Angela Rayner has sparked a furious row within the Labour Party after a “secret memo” demanded new tax raids on the million people who pay the additional rate of income tax.

The Deputy Prime Minister can count on the support of the Labour Left, with a growing number of Corbynista MPs throwing their weight behind Rayner’s pickpocketing tax demand.

However, Rayner’s decision to put pressure on the Treasury raised further questions about the Levelling-Up Secretary undermining the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s authority.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice warned Rayner’s push proves Labour wants to create “hostile tax environment”.

“The only language Labour speak is that of high tax and low growth,” the Boston & Skegness MP said.

Tory MP Neil O’Brien also told GB News: “The answer is not even more tax increases.

“The time is now to start looking at some of the Government’s crazy wasteful spending.”

But this is not the first time the darling of the Labour Left has been accused of undermining Starmer.

Angela Rayner ‘plotted coup’ against Keir Starmer over reshuffle spat

As Boris Johnson stood proudly in Hartlepool following his historic 2021 by-election triumph, Labour HQ was in turmoil.

Starmer was considering a shock resignation as another five-years of Tory rule looked all but guaranteed.

However, after being talked down by his closest allies, Starmer demoted Rayner, stripping her from her role as campaign coordinator.

Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund’s book Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer revealed how Rayner reportedly swore at the Labour leader and walked out of a short meeting with him.

In an extract of the book published in The Times, one of Rayner’s closest confidants revealed she was ready to launch a coup and said: “We could have taken him out there and then, without a shadow of a doubt.

“All of the unions were on board. We had Unite. We had the money. Momentum were lined up. We were done. We had a rally of 5,000 people ready to go.”

A friend of Rayner added: “They backed down because they realised if they wanted to go toe-to-toe, we’d have landed a nuclear missile on their faces.”

The row was only de-escalated when Rayner was given the role of Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.

Angela Rayner ‘threatens to quit’ after Prime Minister sets her ‘impossible’ task

The Deputy Prime Minister was separately accused of mulling over quitting Starmer’s Cabinet after being instructed to build 1.5 million homes within five years of Labour taking office.

In an updated version of Lord Ashcroft’s biography, titled Red Flag, Rayner was only talked out of walking out of the Cabinet following a phone call with ex-Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.

Lord Ashcroft wrote: “She is still prone to stirring up trouble… one occasion she threatened to resign because she felt she’d been set the impossible target of Labour building 1.5 million new homes.

“It took a call from Tony Blair to talk her down – which, incidentally, tells you how important Blair is to the Starmer project.”

Labour sources also claimed that Rayner’s concerns were justified, adding: “The fact is we don’t have enough bricks and there isn’t enough water to supply these houses.”

A Labour MP also told The Mail on Sunday: “I think Rayner realised a while ago that the 1.5 million new homes target is undeliverable.

“But now the penny’s dropped for Angie’s team that she was set up to fail on this all along.”

However, a source close to Rayner rejected the claims made in Lord Ashcroft’s updated book.

“We do not recognise the claims made,” the ally claimed.

​‘We all have frustrations’: Angela Rayner doesn’t deny saying PM ‘couldn’t run a bath’

Rayner was left grinning when confronted about reports that she had claimed Starmer “couldn’t run a bath”.

Maguire and Pogrund’s book Get In alleges that Rayner made the remark in a text to a Labour colleague.

Speaking to the BBC, Rayner said: “There’s a lot of things that were said in that book that I don’t recognise to be honest, and it’s tittle tattle, so I don’t recognise what was said in that book.’

Pressed again, the Deputy Prime Minister added: “There was lots of other things that people have said, people have said about me or anyone else, and no, I don’t recognise ever saying that to anybody.

“But we all have frustrations when we’re at work sometimes, and I’m sure people have been frustrated with me at work sometimes.”

​‘I haven’t changed my mind!’ Angela Rayner defies Keir Starmer’s order by refusing to support key Labour policy

Rayner was accused of undermining Starmer on defence just weeks before the 2024 General Election.

The now-Deputy Prime Minister, who voted against the renewal of Trident in 2016, surprisingly took a strong stand on the issue even after Starmer gave his personal commitment to the nuclear deterrent.

When quizzed on her previous comments, Rayner said: “I haven’t changed my mind.

“The vote that we had some years ago mentioned nothing about multi-lateral disarmament and what I feel is really important for the long term is that globally we should be looking at disarmament of nuclear weapons but that has to be done in combination with other countries.”

Starmer was even challenged on the views held by some of his then-Shadow Cabinet, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy also opposing Trident in 2016.

He said: “I lead this party. I have changed this party.

“If we are privileged to come in to serve, I will be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and I’ve made my commitment to this absolutely clear and I’ve got my whole cabinet, shadow cabinet, behind me.”

​But is Angela Rayner plotting now?

In a fiery exchange with Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville-Roberts, Starmer’s brutal put-down sparked howls of laughter from the Labour benches.

However, one prominent Labour MP’s face remain stone-cold.

Rayner, who flanked Starmer alongside a chuckling Reeves, looked on blankly.

Was that the moment Rayner finally decided that she has had enough? Time will tell.