Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has sparked a political storm after splashing out on a luxury seaside flat worth £800,000 – despite her own department regularly warning about the damage caused by second homes.
The 45-year-old Labour politician already owns a family home in Greater Manchester and has a government apartment in London’s Admiralty House. Now she has added a third home, leading critics to call her “Three Pads Rayner” and accuse her of hypocrisy.
The £800K Home in Hove
Rayner has bought a three-bedroom flat in a Victorian terrace in Hove, East Sussex, one of the UK’s most popular seaside towns. Neighbours say it is the “biggest and best” flat in the building, with expansive sea views and famous neighbours like DJ Fatboy Slim and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour.
Locals claim she has already been spotted enjoying the lifestyle, sipping wine on the beach, and kayaking in the waters near her new home.
However, the move has caused her problems. It comes just as Labour ministers warn that second-home ownership is pushing families out of the market and harming local communities.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook, a member of Rayner’s team, has spoken repeatedly in Parliament about the “negative impacts of excessive concentrations of short-term lets and second homes.” He has warned that these trends hurt local services and make housing “less affordable for residents to buy or rent.”
The government has already given councils the power to double council tax on second homes, and Pennycook has promised that local communities will be given “more power” to tackle these issues.
Rayner herself has previously declared Britain is in the grip of “the most acute housing crisis in living memory,” while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised second homes for driving up prices.
That contrast has made her seaside purchase politically explosive.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice was scathing, blasting
“Rayner is the Everest of hypocrisy. She laments a housing shortage, wants to soak the rich, and yet is selfishly building her own property mountain.”
and also Senior Conservative Priti Patel piled on too, saying
“One rule for this condescending, hypocritical Labour minister, and another for the hard-pressed taxpaying majority of Britain.”
Meanwhile, Tory housing spokesman James Cleverly demanded complete transparency over Rayner’s property arrangements, asking whether she has saved money on council tax by changing her primary residence and if she ever claimed a single-person discount on her taxpayer-funded flat
“Until she gives consistent answers, the public will wonder what exactly she has been trying to hide,” he said.
Not everyone in Labour thinks Rayner’s situation is politically fatal. MP Catherine Atkinson told GB News that what really matters is building 1.5 million homes, not where the Deputy PM chooses to live.
Still, others have privately admitted the optics are damaging for a senior Labour figure who brands herself a socialist.
Rayner’s supporters say she bought the flat as a convenient base near London, not as a luxury getaway. A Labour spokesperson added, “People have the right to own property, but that comes with responsibilities.”
Rayner’s Three Properties She Owns
• A four-bedroom house in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, bought in 2016 for £375,000 and now worth around £650,000.
• A grace-and-favour apartment in Admiralty House, London, once used by Winston Churchill, was provided to her rent-free as Deputy Prime Minister.
• Her newly purchased Hove flat, bought in May, has a mortgage for £800,000.
This is not the first time her housing has been in the headlines. Last year, it emerged that she had made a £48,500 profit selling her ex-council home, which she originally purchased under the Right-to-Buy scheme – a policy she has since tried to restrict.
Some residents in Hove are furious at Rayner’s purchase, arguing it reflects precisely the kind of behaviour her own government criticises.
Local Resident Graham Brinklow Speaks Out
Rayner’s new lifestyle – being spotted strolling through Hove with her on-off partner Sam Tarry, enjoying wine by the water, and mingling in a celebrity neighbourhood – risks clashing with her image as a working-class, straight-talking Labour star who often rails against inequality.
Conservatives are expected to keep pressing her on whether she manipulated her primary residence status to save on taxes.
For now, her allies maintain she has nothing to hide and that critics are “weaponising personal choices” for political gain. However, the row is far from over.
