Angela Rayner is facing fresh allegations that she tried to avoid paying a council tax surcharge on her grace-and-favour flat during her time as housing secretary.

The former deputy prime minister has come under renewed scrutiny after new questions were raised over her residency at Admiralty House.

The Conservatives have written to Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser, alleging that Angela Rayner failed to pay the correct council tax on her grace-and-favour residence at Admiralty House.

Ministers insisted as recently as 28 April that Rayner’s “council tax responsibility was properly discharged”. But Labour-run Westminster City Council introduced a 100% surcharge on second homes from 1 April – meaning the £2,034 bill on her Whitehall flat should have doubled.

Westminster Council was not notified that the Admiralty House apartment was Rayner’s second home until early May, more than a month after the premium took effect. A retrospective one-off payment was made in late July, but only following Conservative Parliamentary Questions.

The Conservatives say the timeline contradicts ministerial assurances given throughout April and May and claim that Parliament was misled.

The government is responsible for paying council tax on grace and favour properties, which are ministers’ second homes.

But the Conservatives have argued that Rayner, who at the time was the cabinet minister responsible for council tax policy,  had a personal responsibility to ensure the council tax was paid under the ministerial code.

The code states: “Where a minister is allocated an official residence, they must ensure that all personal tax liabilities, including any council tax, are properly discharged and that they personally pay such liabilities.”

Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “This new evidence confirms what we have long suspected: Angela Rayner failed to pay the council tax she was liable for, broke the ministerial code and led to ministers misleading Parliament in the process.

“Having already failed to pay £40,000 in stamp duty and now failed to properly discharge her council tax bill, there can never be a route back into government for Angela Rayner. She must also pay back her £17,000 golden goodbye she received after resigning.

“All this at a time when Labour are hitting families with higher council tax bills. It is simply indefensible that one of their most senior figures avoided paying her own.”

A source close to Rayner told the press: “The government is responsible for liaising with Westminster city council and administering council tax on Admiralty House, not Angela, and there is no suggestion she did anything other than properly discharge her own responsibilities as and when required.”

A government spokesman said: “As the property was a second residence, the Government was responsible for paying the council tax on Admiralty House, not the former deputy prime minister, in line with long-standing precedent under successive governments.

“The government property agency paid the full amount as soon as the invoice was received from Westminster council.”

Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary in September.

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