BREAKING: Keir Starmer AVOIDED inheritance tax? PM under fire in shock report ahead of conference
LATEST NEWS: Sir Keir Starmer allegedly transferred land to his parents through a trust, ensuring the asset would never be subject to inheritance tax, regardless of its eventual value. By placing a seven-acre field within this structure, its value was excluded from his parents’ estate—which he was a beneficiary of—when they passed away. At the time, Starmer could not have predicted whether the estate would ultimately avoid the tax, or by how much, since any liability depended on his parents’ total wealth and the estate’s available tax-free allowance.
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Questions for Keir Starmer Over Avoiding Inheritance Tax
Sir Keir Starmer is facing cries of hypocrisy after putting a £295,000 field in a trust for his parents, legally keeping it out of their estate for inheritance tax purposes — despite vowing to crack down on tax avoidance. The Sunday Times has the story.
The Prime Minister’s decision to place a seven-acre field within the structure meant its value was excluded from his parents’ estate, of which he was a beneficiary, when they died. …
He insists the trust made no difference to the liability and that he gave them the land solely to help them. Yet No 10 repeatedly declined to say why he could not have simply given them the land, or kept it while permitting them to use it.
The field was located behind Starmer’s parents’ home in Oxted, Surrey. He bought it for £20,000 in 1996 and immediately created a trust to place it within, appointing his parents as its beneficiaries. This meant they had a right to the land while they were alive, but did not acquire the legal title. He previously told the parliamentary standards commissioner: “That remained with me.”
The Prime Minister sold the field, and a small adjacent strip belonging to his father, for £320,000 in 2022. The transaction gave the field a value of around £295,000.
Starmer says he bought the land so his parents could use it as a donkey sanctuary — he has previously spoken about their work caring for animals — and without any tax advantages in mind. The Labour leader’s mother, Josephine, died in 2015. His father, Rodney, died in 2018, at which point the trust automatically dissolved and the land returned to Starmer.
Had Starmer simply given them the land as a gift, it would have formed part of the father’s estate. As executor of the will, he would have been required to have the land valued and to have submitted details to HM Revenue & Customs within a year as part of the probate process.
Yet the nature of the trust meant the land was always deemed to belong to him personally. No valuation of the land was required and it was left out of inheritance tax calculations. …
Starmer has condemned legal tax avoidance. When running for the Labour leadership, he said: “We need to clamp down on tax avoidance — by companies and individuals — which costs the taxpayer billions.” In opposition, he said: “I think it’s pretty simple: those in charge of taxation can’t also be seeking to avoid it.”
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