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Angela Rayner is set to give her resignation speech in the House of Commons today - nearly seven weeks after she quit her Government roles over a furious tax row. The former deputy prime minister is expected to address the Commons chamber this afternoon for the first time since she stood down for failing to pay correct stamp duty. Ms Rayner has stayed largely under the radar since her dramatic exit as Sir Keir Starmer's number two. She quit as deputy PM, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader on September 5 when a sleaze probe found she had broken ministerial rules. It followed her tearful admission she had paid around £40,000 less property tax than she should have done when buying an £800,000 seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex. Her resignation speech will come after the Prime Minister and other Cabinet figures lined up to praise Ms Rayner at Labour's recent party conference in Liverpool. Sir Keir said that Ms Rayner - who did not attend the conference - had paid a 'heavy price' by resigning. The PM said in an interview that he knew the Ashton-under-Lyne MP would be 'a major voice again in the Labour movement'. Health Secretary Wes Streeting used his speech on the main conference stage to praise Ms Rayner and tell Labour members: 'We need her back.' When she quit the Government - after little more than a year in office - Ms Rayner received a ministerial severance payment of nearly £17,000. The Tories branded payment 'outrageous' and claimed she had been 'rewarded for dodging tax'. Ms Rayner received the £16,876 severance pay Cabinet ministers are entitled to when leaving office. It is equivalent to a quarter of their annual ministerial salary. It was before new Labour rules came into effect under which ministers found to have committed a 'serious breach' of the ministerial code would be expected to forgo or repay their 'golden goodbye'. A spokesperson for Ms Rayner said: 'There is a world of difference between making an honest mistake and a severe breach of the ministerial code. 'And as the independent ethics adviser's investigation concluded, Angela acted with integrity and an exemplary commitment to public service.' It was suggested the new Labour rules would not have applied to her automatic eligibility for the severance pay because her ministerial code breach was not deemed serious. Ms Rayner had faced pressure to reject the severance payment after she previously voted against allowing ministers under investigation to receive such payments. In February last year, she voted in favour of a motion put forward by Labour, then in opposition, that would have deprived departing ministers of a severance payout until they were cleared of any allegations. Ministerial standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus had probed Ms Rayner's property ownership after she admitted underpaying stamp duty. The ethics watchdog found Ms Rayner's failure to settle her full stamp duty liability, along with the fact that this was only established following media scrutiny of her tax affairs, led him to consider the ministerial code had been breached. Writing to the PM, Rayner said she accepted she 'did not meet the highest standards'. 'I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as housing secretary and my complex family arrangements,' she said. She said she took 'full responsibility for this error'. 'It was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount,' she added. Ms Rayner is still widely regarded as a potential candidate to replace Sir Keir should he be forced out as PM. David Lammy replaced Ms Rayner, the Ashton-under-Lyne MP, as Deputy PM in the Cabinet reshuffle which followed her resignation last month. Steve Reed took over the housing brief. Her other role as deputy Labour leader is still being contested between Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell.
