What she did was what 98% of the population do. Didn't follow the little disclaimer usually in small print that says "we're lawyers, not tax advisors".So has every other minister that's resigned over a scandal. Far more numerous in the Tories than in Labour too.
The other 2% see a tax advisor to dodge paying SDLT. If they have a barn on their property, or anything that could even remotely be interpreted as being potentially for commercial use, they get a clever tax advisor to draft the wording so they can describe the property as mixed use and then reduce the SDLT.
If she really wanted to do something to save the £, she could have had her son's trust converted or she could have just paid the £40k extra on top of the £30k she did pay then tweak the trust within 3 years of buying the flat and claim back the £40k.
Massive public spectacle over nothing. I hope that someone has the time and inclination to go digging into all politicians' SDLT/LTT payments.

