Pressure grows on Angela Rayner to quit as Labour deputy leader over housing row police probe

Release time：2024-05-21 13:39:10 Source：Earthly Echo news portal

Angela Rayner is facing fresh Tory calls to quit as Labour's deputy leader today as police reopened an investigation into claims she broke election law in connection with her former council house home. 

Greater Manchester Police this morning reversed its decision not to look into where the Ashton-under-Lyme MP was registered to vote in 2015, after an appeal by the Conservatives to take another look.

Claims have been made that she was not registered at her home address as required, and questions have also been raised over whether she mispaid capital gains tax over the 2015 sale of a property in Manchester. 

Ms Rayner has denied any wrongdoing and has been backed by the party.

But Defence Secretary  Grant Shapps accused Ms Rayner of 'double standards' because in January 2022 she called for Boris Johnson to quit as prime minister amid a police investigation into whether he had breached lockdown rules while in No10.

Ms Rayner's post on social media platform X said: 'Boris Johnson's Downing Street is under police investigation, how on earth can he think he can stay on as Prime Minister?' 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today declined to say three times whether Ms Rayner should resign if police find that she did break the law. 

In a stony-faced interview with broadcasters he said: 'I am fully confident that Angela Rayner has not broken the rules. She will cooperate with the investigation as you would expect and it is really a matter for the police.' 

Meanwhile other senior Labour frontbenchers rallied around her.  Former party leader Ed Miliband said she was an inspiration and 'exactly the kind of person we need in politics'.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed it was looking into claims that the Labour deputy leader may have mispaid capital gains tax over the 2015 sale of a property in Manchester.

Ms Rayner has denied wrongdoing. But she has refused to publish tax advice which she claims exonerates her – and has not shown it directly to Sir Keir Starmer (pictured today), he has admitted.

Former party leader Ed Miliband said she was an inspiration and 'exactly the kind of person we need in politics', at an event alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan today.

The shadow energy minister said: 'We are absolutely 100 per cent behind Angela. We are absolutely confident that she has complied with the rules. She welcomes the fact she can set out the facts.'

He added: 'My message to the country is we are incredibly proud of Angela Rayner, our deputy leader.

'She is an inspiring person, she is exactly the kind of person we need in politics.

'If a Labour government is elected, I look forward to Angela Rayner serving as deputy prime minister. Frankly the Conservative party is a desperate party that has nothing to say to the country about the big issues that it faces. '

London Mayor Sadiq Khan added: 'I'm fully confident in Angela, she's one of my best friends and I'm sure she'll be cleared.'

Police re-examined a decision not to investigate after a complaint by Tory Bury MP and deputy chairman James Daly. 

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: 'We're investigating whether any offences have been committed. This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly.'

Ms Rayner has denied wrongdoing. But she has refused to publish tax advice which she claims exonerates her – and has not shown it directly to Sir Keir Starmer, he has admitted. 

Before becoming an MP, Ms Rayner used Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy scheme to purchase her former council home in Vicarage Road, Stockport, in January 2007.

Angela Rayner posted this picture on Twitter in 2014 (left) and on the right is the estate agent photograph showing the same cushion

The same sofa can be seen in estate agents' pictures when the Lowndes Lane house in Stockport was put up for sale the following year

The address on Lowndes Lane - around a mile from Ms Rayner's property on Vicarage Road, which she insisted was her home

She married Mark Rayner in September 2010 and the couple re-registered the births of their two sons that year, providing Mr Rayner's address in nearby Lowndes Lane.

But Ms Rayner remained on the electoral roll at Vicarage Road until 2015, when she sold the house at a profit of £48,500. 

Knowingly providing false information on an electoral registration form is an offence, which can carry a six-month prison sentence or an unlimited fine.

A married couple can also normally have only one main residence, with capital gains tax due on the sale of a second home.

Mr Daly had responded to the force's initial conclusion after an 'investigative review' lasting just seven working days that 'there wasn't a case to answer' by raising concerns that his complaint was 'not handled properly'.

He asked the force to take another look to maintain 'public confidence'.

On Wednesday Ms Rayner was targeted by a Tory-sponsored  'tax dodger' protest as she broke cover on the election campaign trail in the North East

The Mail on Sunday has studied dozens of postings made by Ms Rayner on social media during the period in question showing her life with her children and cats at her husband's address

In response, Det Chief Insp Cheryl Hughes wrote back to say she has been 'requested to review the circumstances you have outlined to reassess our decision around an investigation.'

However questions were raised about the 'reassessment' of the allegation against the Ashton-under-Lyne MP after Mail Online last week ((((LINK)))) revealed that police hadn't spoken to neighbours who have repeatedly contradicted her version of events.

An 83-year-old who lived next-door to Mr Rayner's house a mile away told the Mail on Sunday that the Labour frontbencher was 'a f***ing liar' if she was saying she hadn't lived there.

The claims first emerged in Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner by Lord Ashcroft, serialised in the Mail.

Under electoral rules, voters are expected to register at their permanent home address.

Ms Rayner insists she lived in the semi-detached former council house in Vicarage Road - paying council tax and bills - until weeks before her election as MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in May 2015, and never rented it out.

The mother-of-three and her then husband – they have since separated – both 'maintained' their own homes until setting up a joint marital home after she was elected to Parliament, she says.

Sources said she had 'never denied' that she also 'spent time' at her husband's terraced house in Lowndes Lane following their marriage.

After Mr Daly's second complaint, a spokesman for Ms Rayner said: 'Gossip and hearsay does not change the fact that Angela Rayner maintained her own home while sharing childcare responsibilities with her husband at his property.'

Ms Rayner was approached for comment on the police investigation.

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