A Year of Labour: Scandal, Hypocrisy, and Broken Promises by Shane Bray

We now have a government that says one thing, does another and lurches from scandal to scandal — all in little more than a year. When Labour took office, they spoke endlessly about the so-called £22 billion black hole in the public finances. Fast forward a year, and that hole has widened to £50 billion. Put plainly, Labour has managed in just over twelve months to inflict double the damage on “UK plc” that the Conservatives did in fourteen years, and the Tory legacy was hardly one of fiscal success.

The Prime Minister and several Cabinet members have accepted high-value gifts and perks despite promising the public before entering office that they would uphold higher standards. The Chancellor’s record, meanwhile, has been riddled with questions about her CV — the dates, job titles and responsibilities simply do not add up. At the same time, UK gilt yields are now at thirty-year highs, even higher than at the point of Liz Truss’s collapse, leaving her credibility in tatters.

Then we come to the so-called anti-corruption minister, whose position is nothing short of grotesque. Here is a minister tasked with defending integrity in public life, yet she has been gifted property by family members tied to a regime mired in corruption. It is an insult to the very notion of accountability that someone with personal links to corrupt dealings overseas is allowed to front the government’s anti-corruption brief. This is not just hypocrisy — it is a corruption scandal in its own right, a textbook case of “do as I say, not as I do.” If Labour had a shred of principle, such a minister would never have been appointed in the first place.

The hypocrisy does not end there. We have a homelessness minister exposed for evicting tenants and hiking rents, the very behaviour Labour has pledged to outlaw. And Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Minister, who previously faced scrutiny over potential capital gains tax issues and has now admitted to underpaying stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat. The official line is that she received bad advice. For an ordinary person, perhaps that would be an acceptable explanation. But Rayner is not an ordinary taxpayer. She is Deputy Prime Minister and, crucially, the minister responsible for housing.

As Housing Minister she may not set stamp duty policy, but she must understand exactly how it shapes buyer behaviour, be fluent in the costs faced by ordinary households, anticipate how changes ripple through the market, and be able to defend and explain government policy on it. If she underpaid because she did not understand the rules, it shows negligence and a lack of grip on her brief. If she did understand and underpaid anyway, it points to dishonesty. Either way, she cannot credibly remain in post.

Labour’s defenders will no doubt claim that criticism of Rayner is driven by classism or sexism, but that is a distraction. The issue here is hypocrisy. Rayner has been one of Labour’s fiercest attack dogs, castigating Tories for minimising their tax liabilities. Yet when caught in a similar situation, she expects indulgence. You cannot demand accountability from others while exempting yourself.

I take no issue with Rayner’s working-class background; in fact, it is refreshing to see someone outside the Eton set in high office. Nor do I disagree with her public stance on tax avoidance. In January 2023 she tweeted that every pound of tax not delivered to the Chancellor damages public services. I agree wholeheartedly. But principles only matter if they are lived, not just tweeted. When the Housing Minister herself underpays tax and then blames others, she undermines both her office and her own convictions.

This government is not simply plagued by incompetence — it is drowning in corruption, hypocrisy and double standards. Angela Rayner’s case is not about class, gender or personality. It is about credibility and accountability at the heart of government. By her own standards, she has failed them all. She needs to go, and she should not be the only one.