This article was updated on Sunday 28 September at 16:15 to reflect updated information following the publication of the Times’ report (more on that here).
Keir Starmer has been questioned on whether he used a tax dodge to avoid inheritance tax on his parents’ estate, by giving them land through a ‘trust’ that would ultimately come back to him along with the rest of their estate, without incurring inheritance tax.
According to Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund, who says the allegation is meticulously researched by himself and by tax experts:
Curiously No10 will not answer – despite having a list of straightforward questions for weeks and Starmer retaining a leading tax KC following our original approach.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that Starmer did not use the trust for the purpose of tax avoidance, but questions remain on why he did use the trust.
Full details are scheduled for publication on Sunday.













Whot do you expect we pay our taxes they don’t wake up
Jeff3 – Keir bought this land behind his mother’s house so that she could use it as a donkey sanctuary. Following his mother’s death he sold this land in 2022 and he paid the HMRC £52,688 CGT on the transaction.
ps: Keir’s mother died in 2015; his father died on 1 December 2018. The net value of their estate (mainly their house) was £374,091.
So even if the land’s value (sold for £320k in 2022) had been included in his parents estate it still wouldn’t have reached the threshold for paying IHT
Where not the Blair’s (both lawyers and now KCs) involved in some property scheme? Just like the Clintons in the states, both lawyers, involved with some property scheme! The message is, do not vote for someone is a lawyer.