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Paul SeddonPolitical reporter
Sir Keir Starmer has said the “hugely talented” Angela Rayner will make a return to the cabinet, following her resignation over a tax scandal.
The former deputy prime minister quit in September, after it emerged she had failed to pay the correct amount of stamp duty on a £800,000 flat in Hove.
An investigation found she had “acted with integrity,” but her failure to get the correct tax advice on the purchase fell short of ministerial standards.
In an interview with The Observer, the prime minister said she remained a “major voice in the Labour movement”.
Sir Keir added that Rayner, who grew up in poverty and left school at 16, was “the best social mobility story this country has ever seen”.
Asked whether he missed her, he was quoted as saying: “Yes, of course I do. I was really sad that we lost her.”
Pressed on whether she would be back in the cabinet, he replied: “Yes. She’s hugely talented.”
The reported comments are more categorical than previous remarks he has made about Rayner, who was also deputy Labour leader and housing secretary.
At a G20 summit last month, Sir Keir told broadcasters he “absolutely” wanted to see her make a return to government “at some stage”.
Rayner has been replaced as deputy Labour leader by Lucy Powell, another former cabinet minister, following an election among party members.
Since her resignation, Rayner has largely kept out of the political limelight. Apart from a statement after her resignation, she has only spoken once in the House of Commons since leaving her government roles.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP, an architect of the government’s employment rights bill, had been expected to put forward an amendment to the legislation next week after ministers watered down its new provisions against unfair dismissal.
But she agreed to withdraw the proposed change, which would have brought in the new right a year earlier than ministers now plan, following talks with Business Secretary Peter Kyle.
Speaking on Sky News, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said Rayner was an “enormous talent” and he would welcome her return, whilst adding that it remained a “decision for the prime minister”.
