Angela Rayner has expanded her real estate portfolio by acquiring an £800,000 apartment by the sea, even as her department enforces stricter rules on second-home ownership.

This new ‘vacation residence’ in Hove adds to Rayner’s collection, which includes a £650,000 home in her parliamentary constituency and a state-provided three-bedroom apartment in Admiralty House. The Conservatives have called for transparency regarding her council tax status.

It comes as Ms Rayner’s department has started allowing town halls to levy an extra 100 per cent council tax charge on second homes. 

The initiative, carried over from the previous Conservative government, addresses concerns that locals are being priced out in popular tourist spots like Hove.

Rayner, referred to as ‘Two Homes Rayner’ after a report by The Mail On Sunday, was known to alternate her stays between two council homes early in her marriage, reportedly renting one out while residing in her husband’s property.

It also coincides with moves by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to hit the middle classes with new property taxes in the autumn Budget. 

Amid the Treasury’s struggle to stabilize the budget, Rayner is contemplating proposals to hike council tax in wealthy regions by £380 annually to reallocate resources to disadvantaged areas nationwide.

Recently, the Deputy Prime Minister was seen enjoying a large glass of rosé at the beach near her new acquisition, dressed in a pink and camouflage Dryrobe.

Neighbours – who said Ms Rayner had purchased the three-bedroom flat in May for use as a holiday home – have spotted her strolling around the area with her on-off partner, Sam Tarry.

When she entered the Government, Ms Rayner designated her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency home as her ‘primary residence’, and her pre-Admiralty home – a rented London flat – as her second home. 

That allowed her to claim back the £1,621 council tax bill on the London flat from the taxpayer as one of the housing costs reimbursed by Commons authorities.

She has declined to say if she is still designating Ashton as her primary residence.

If she is, then the £2,034 council tax bill for Admiralty House doubles to a whopping £4,068 if classed as a second home.

The Brighton property is Band D, meaning it attracts a basic £2,455 bill for two people or £1,841 for single occupancy – which also doubles if it is classed as a second home.

Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly accused Ms Rayner of refusing to answer Parliamentary questions about her living arrangements.

‘Angela Rayner is responsible for housing policy, yet she won’t even be straight about her own,’ he said. 

‘Time and again she’s been asked to declare exactly what properties she owns and where she pays council tax, and time and again she’s dodged those questions.

 ‘We’ve done everything possible to get answers, but she still refuses to come clean. 

‘That matters, because this is the same Deputy Prime Minister who’s hiked taxes on family homes across the country.

‘If she’s not prepared to be open about her own affairs while taxing everyone else, the public will wonder what she has to hide.’

Ms Rayner’s large, airy flat is located on the second floor of an elegant Victorian terrace that leads down to the beach and is made up of two flats converted into one.

It has its own balcony and sash windows that look out onto the sea and a neatly maintained green.

One resident said: ‘Everybody knows Angela has moved into our block. I’ve seen her recently and she was sipping a coffee while leaving the building with her entourage.

‘She’s got the biggest and nicest flat in the block and appears to be using it as a holiday home for short breaks because she’s not there very often.

‘It’s a fantastic flat that has great views of the sea.’

Another neighbour said: ‘She has her own security team but they don’t make a big fuss and you wouldn’t notice them. 

‘She’s only at the flat on the odd weekend and most of the time doesn’t appear to stay for very long.’

Ms Rayner made her relationship with Mr Tarry official in March by declaring him as her partner in the Register of Ministers’ Interests. 

Mr Tarry, a former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, was at the centre of controversy when it was revealed in 2016 that he was working as a councillor in London’s East End, despite living with his then wife in Brighton.

Last week, the MoS reported that she had been accused of using national security laws to disguise the fact that she has the choice of three bathrooms in her taxpayer-funded grace-and-favour home.

Her officials refused to answer a Parliamentary question about her London residence in Admiralty House ‘for security and operational reasons’.

However, the Tories discovered through Freedom of Information laws that she enjoys the use of three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

A source close to Ms Rayner said: ‘Angela’s work means that she’s often had to be in and around London for over a decade now,but had always rented a flat for that purpose.’

Stunning sea views, chilled rosé on the beach and Fatboy Slim as a neighbour. Deputy PM’s charmed life in oh-so-hip Hove

By Ian Gallagher, Chief Reporter

TO some onlookers, there was something a bit Hollywood diva-ish about Angela Rayner’s seaside frolics.

Consider the little tableau that played out last Monday. The Deputy Prime Minister emerges from the sea after an early evening dip and is promptly helped into an expensive robe to dry off.

Next, she’s handed a glass of chilled rosé. Friends (and possibly a bodyguard or two) cluster around her on the beach as her laughter cuts above the soft hiss of gently lapping waves. California summer vibes. Not a bad life, eh?

This, though, wasn’t Malibu or Santa Monica but somewhere locals insist is trendier still.

But what attracted this honest-to-goodness Northern lass to the hip, upmarket town of Hove on the South Coast – rather than uncool Blackpool, the nearest major seaside town to her constituency? After all, as she likes to remind us, she’s a woman of the people.

At first it seemed Angela was simply on holiday. Nothing wrong with that. As she once said after she was pictured raving in Ibiza:

‘I won’t apologise for taking a day off.’ But we now know that the Deputy PM – who is also Housing Secretary – has added another home to her property portfolio: an £800,000 apartment overlooking the sea.

‘Makes me laugh, all these lefties with their second homes,’ says Graham Brinklow, 76, sitting in front of a beach hut reading

a spy novel. ‘No, it doesn’t make me laugh, it actually makes me angry. My three grandchildren have all got good jobs but none can get on the property ladder.’

On Friday a section of the pebble beach two minutes from Angela’s front door was marked with flags of bright red and yellow – Labour colours. 

That’s how it looked from a distance. Had this little strip been designated a Socialist beach on her orders? That didn’t take her long. Closer inspection revealed however that they were lifeguard flags.

One of the Baywatch team explains that they were raised to warn swimmers about tricky offshore winds. Fair enough. By the way, had he ever rescued Angela Rayner? ‘Never heard of her, mate,’ he replies.

Angela’s immediate neighbours report variously that she ‘likes a swim’, ‘is no trouble’, and ‘is someone who always says good morning’. Normally she’s ‘down at weekends’ and sometimes ‘she has her entourage in tow’.

Named as one of the best places to live in the UK, Hove is described as foodie, funky and Zen. 

Certainly, it is much less hectic than its neighbouring big brother, Brighton. Some in Hove say – only half-jokingly – that those who don’t do yoga, for instance, are in the minority.

Celebrities abound. Angela’s nearest big-name neighbour, a couple of minutes’ walk away, is Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. 

He’s selling up – though not, it must be said, because Angela has moved here. His beachfront home is on the market for £10 million. David Walliams, meanwhile, is not far away.

And should Angela feel in the mood for a bop, she only has to call on Norman Cook, superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, who lives further along the esplanade next door to his ex-wife, Zoe Ball.

Locals say Angela has been spotted all over Brighton and Hove during the summer, often with her boyfriend Sam Tarry, the former MP for Ilford South.

An onlooker who saw them in popular Queen’s Park said. ‘They looked like any other couple if you discounted the presence of two security staff, who were quite conspicuous, dressed in black and hovering about, scoping out the area and who was coming in all the time.’ 

Angela has also been seen strolling round the Lanes shopping district in Brighton with Tarry. Another witness said: ‘They weren’t holding hands but seemed very intimate, despite the presence of bodyguards. If she has moved down here from London to be close to him it tells you their relationship is strong.’

In May, Angela booked two tables at cosy 16th-century inn, The Bull, in Ditchling – an idyllic village nine miles from Hove.

There, accompanied by a friend and at least two bodyguards, she is said to have ordered a £23 bavette steak with chunky chips and a £45 bottle of Sancerre.

One staff member said: ‘I didn’t recognise her when she came in. She wasn’t wearing any make-up and was dressed very casually. She seemed very jolly.’

The pub was the local of long-time Ditchling resident Dame Vera Lynn, who was occasionally seen lunching with her pal, actor Sir Donald Sinden.

It is tempting to imagine that Dame Vera –- unlike Angela, the Sancerre Socialist –- opted for a patriotic tipple. A port and lemon perhaps, or maybe a milk stout.

Still, as one regular notes, we shouldn’t begrudge Angela her ‘fancy tastes’. He adds: ‘I suppose we’re just a bit jealous. The way she’s clobbering us with council tax it won’t be long before we’ll only be able to afford rotgut wine.’ Cheers, Angela!