Cleared of tax wrongdoing, UK Labour’s Angela Rayner calls on Starmer to ‘reflect’

LONDON – Britain’s former deputy prime minister, Ms Angela Rayner, a potential rival to leader Keir Starmer, said on May 14 she had been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs, overcoming a hurdle to mounting any leadership bid.

Ms Rayner used two interviews to signal she was not ready yet to say whether she would throw her hat into the ring if a leadership contest is triggered against the British prime minister, but said Mr Starmer should “reflect” on his position.

She is the latest senior Labour politician to heap pressure on Mr Starmer, after dozens of lawmakers in his own party called on him to set out a timetable for his departure after a disastrous set of results in local elections.

Health minister Wes Streeting, on the right of the party, was also expected to resign on May 14 to launch his own bid to challenge Mr Starmer for the leadership.

Ms Rayner is on the so-called “soft left” of Labour.

Ms Rayner told the Guardian that Mr Starmer should “reflect” on his position after he failed to deliver change fast enough for the country.

“I’ll play my part in doing everything we possibly can to deliver the change, because it’s not a personal ambition, I know the difference it makes,” she said.

“Whatever role I can play, I will keep pushing and pushing hard because I want the people out there at the moment who are really struggling… to know that I’m putting all my energy into fighting for them.”

She said in a statement that Britain’s tax authorities had cleared her of tax avoidance, with no fine or penalty applied, a move she described as exonerating her “of the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax”.

Ms Rayner, one of Labour’s most recognisable figures, had been seen as unable to run in any leadership contest until she resolved her tax issue which prompted her resignation from office in 2025.

An HMRC tax authority spokesperson declined to comment.

Mr Starmer, who won a landslide election victory less than two years ago, is facing the biggest challenge of his tenure after more than 90 lawmakers called for him to resign and junior ministers quit, blaming him for the election drubbing.

Sources close to Mr Starmer said he is determined to run if a leadership contest is triggered.

Mr Streeting is expected to declare his hand later on May 14, while those on the left seek to coalesce around a candidate.

Among the possible candidates on the left are Ms Rayner, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Mr Ed Miliband, the minister for energy security and net zero.

Mr Burnham does not have the necessary seat in parliament ⁠to mount a challenge and would need a lawmaker to stand down to give him the chance to run.

The political instability has pushed borrowing costs higher, with some investors nervous over the possible election of a more left-wing, tax-and-spend Labour prime minister.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves, commenting on better-than-expected economic growth figures on May 14, warned her colleagues that any leadership challenge would plunge the country into chaos “at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit”. REUTERS