This is serious. It can’t be just dismissed as an ‘’inadvertent mistake’’. Try that with HMRC when you make an error on your tax form.
She’s the Chancellor. She is surrounded by experts. She has agents. She has lawyers. And, most importantly, Rachel Reeves is less than a month away from telling the rest of us how poorer we are going to be over the next four years.
So, like Caesar’s wife, she knew it was important she was above suspicion. But, just like Angela Rayner before her, she has now failed that test. And like Rayner, she will eventually be forced to resign.
Starmer has not helped her either. After a flurry of late night calls to his independent ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, he decided there would be no need for an investigation.
The voters will hate that. Anybody in the landlord business knows the authorities are all over you all the time and the idea that, because you are a politician, you will escape scrutiny will drive people mad.
Reeves has a detached, four-bed property in the swanky South London suburb of Dulwich. I know the area very well as I lived down the road from her in Court Lane and went to school at Alleyn’s.
The only joy I am getting from this revelation is that I now know Reeves will be paying mansion tax when she announces it on November 26.
I once lived down the road from Rachel Reeves. I know how much trouble she is in - Kelvin MacKenzie
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The problem for Reeves will have started back in 2021 when Labour-run Southwark council, a shocking collection of rather dim lefties, brought in licences that landlords were required to have before they were allowed to rent out their homes.
The alleged reason was to tackle ‘’poor standards’’ and allegedly improve the quality of the homes being offered. Could Reeves have ducked it because it was damp? I think we should be told.
The licences cost £900, which is a racket in itself. Landlords are required to submit documents proving their property is fit for purpose, including tenancy agreements and safety certificates.
The even worse news for Reeves - and for her neighbour at No.10 - is that failing to obtain a licence when required is a criminal offence.
The offence is punishable with an unlimited fine or an order for the landlord to pay back up to a year’s rent.
Reeves started renting out the house in September last year for a remarkably cheap £3,200 a month.
Therefore, it looks as though she will have to pay the council around £38,400. I presume she won’t be able to claim that against tax.
The most ludicrous aspect of her being caught out by the Mail is the last paragraph of her note to the Prime Minister. I’ve never read anything like it.
Here it is: ‘’I sincerely apologise for the error and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.’’ What questions beyond why I have hired you would he likely to have?
I see that Reeves is deploying the same arguments surrounding this blunder as she did when it was discovered that she was not running Natwest as per her Wikipedia but was answering complaints to the bank.
It was all somebody else’s fault. This time it will be the estate agent, last time it was an aide. There’s a theme here.
The excuses are thin. It’s clear she has no attention to detail, and yet she decides what money we have coming into our household.
Even Starmer must recognise that this cannot go on. The reality is that they either hang together or hang separately. Both will be gone after the May elections, is my bet.
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