𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Angela Rayner has refused to hand back a £16,876 payout she pocketed after quitting in a tax scandal, despite waltzing back into the same job.

That resignation triggered the large ministerial severance payout of nearly £17,000 in the first place.

But on Monday, Mr Burnham brought her back into the housing brief, igniting fury from the Conservatives, who demanded that she hand back the cash.

Asked by the BBC whether she would, Ms Rayner said: “No, my severance payment was given to me at the time, I had worked in government for a period of time and then I came out of government for just under a year.”

The refusal is awkward timing for Ms Rayner, who in 2023 blasted the Conservatives over a “staggering lack of shame” after it emerged former ministers had trousered more than £450,000 in severance between them.

She insisted her own criticism came when there was a “revolving door” of ministers returning to government “after 40-odd days”.

The Tories have branded her comeback a case of one rule for Labour and another for everyone else.

The party said Ms Rayner had “quit in disgrace and took a £17k payout” last year, adding: “Now she’s got her old job back, will she return the cash? Or is it one rule for Labour, and another for everyone else?”

Under Whitehall rules, departing ministers are given a lump sum equal to 25% of their annual salary, unless they are over 65 or reappointed within three weeks.

Ms Rayner finally settled her tax affairs with HMRC in May, coughing up £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty following an investigation.

She insists she was “exonerated” of deliberately dodging tax, telling the BBC: “The situation I went through last year was really difficult, it was difficult for my family, but I felt I’d let people down and I never want to let people down, I want to fight for them.”