Sir Keir Starmer has been told that if he had a “backbone”, he would sack Angela Rayner after she admitted that she did not pay enough tax on her £800,000 seaside flat.
Ms Rayner has been coming under increasing pressure over recent weeks after it emerged she clawed back £40,000 from her stamp duty bill.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “I welcome the fact that the Deputy Prime Minister has referred herself to the ethics adviser.
“She has admitted she underpaid tax. So why is she still in office?”
Sir Keir Starmer has been told that if he had a 'backbone', he would sack Angela Rayner
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Sir Keir replied: “I know from speaking at length to the Deputy Prime Minister just how difficult that decision was for her and her family.
"But she did it to ensure that all information is in the public domain, she has now referred herself to the independent adviser, that is the right thing to do.
"But I can be clear I am very proud to sit alongside a Deputy Prime Minister, who is building 1.5 million homes, who has brought in the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation and who’s come from a working-class background to be Deputy Prime Minister of this country.”
Firing back, Ms Badenoch said: "I’m not sure we would have heard all that sympathy [for Ms Rayner] if it was a Conservative Deputy Prime Minister who was being attacked."
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Angela Rayner has strongly rejected suggestions of deliberate tax avoidance | GETTYShe added: “I remember when the Prime Minister said that tax evasion is a criminal offence and should be treated as all other fraud. If he had a backbone, he would sack her."
Speaking earlier today, Ms Rayner admitted that she had considered resigning from the Cabinet after the reports were first revealed.
"I spoke to my family about it," the Housing Secretary admitted. "I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I've done is try and support my family and help them."
The Deputy Prime Minister also confirmed that she had referred herself to the Prime Minister's independent ethics adviser before blaming the debacle on incorrect tax advice.
Kemi Badenoch told the Prime Minister: 'I’m not sure we would have heard all that sympathy [for Ms Rayner] if it was a Conservative Deputy Prime Minister who was being attacked'
| POOLShe added: "I've been in shock, really, because I thought I'd done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received and I'm devastated because I've always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that.
"That it is devastating for me and the fact that the reason why those confidential clauses were in place was to protect my son, who, through no fault of his own, he's vulnerable, he's got this life changing, lifelong conditions and I don't want him or anything to do with his day-to-day life, to be subjected to that level of scrutiny."
A number of Tory and Reform UK MPs have put pressure on Sir Keir to sack Ms Rayner.
Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “Her credibility is in tatters, she’s dodged questions all summer, her actions reek of hypocrisy. Starmer is too weak to kick her out.”