[Jimbuna]

Police investigate Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner over council house sale

Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation into Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner over the sale of her council house.

She has been accused of breaking electoral law by giving false information about her main residence.

Ms Rayner denies this and Labour said it remains "completely confident" she has complied with all the rules.

The police investigation has been prompted by a complaint from Tory MP James Daly.

A police spokesperson said: "We're investigating whether any offences have been committed. This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly."

Mr Daly, the MP for Bury North, is understood to have made police aware of neighbours contradicting Ms Rayner's statement that a property, separate from her husband's, was her main residency.

Police initially said there would be no investigation but Mr Daley complained that officers did not appear to have looked the electoral roll and other documents.

Ms Rayner, nee Bowen, bought the semi-detached home in 2007, getting a 25% discount under the Right to Buy scheme introduced by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

Tax experts have estimated that, while Ms Rayner may not have owed anything in Capital Gains Tax following the sale depending on her residency situation, there are circumstances in which she could have owed as much as £3,500 to HM Revenue and Customs.

The MP, who is also Labour's shadow housing secretary, was registered as living at Vicarage Road, Stockport, in Greater Manchester, on the electoral roll until she sold the property in 2015.

But she appears to have given two different addresses when she re-registered the births of two of her children in 2010 following her marriage to Mark Rayner.

The other address listed, Lowndes Lane, is where her husband was registered as living, according to reports in the Mail on Sunday.

The allegations have sprung from claims made in a book by Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, taken up by Mr Daly, who reported alleged issues to the police.

Separately, Mr Daly was concerned Capital Gains Tax may be due on the sale of Ms Rayner's property, as normally married couples can only have one property as their main home.

Ms Rayner has said she was not liable because it was her home and the "only one" she owned, as her then-husband "already owned his own home independently".

It is alleged that it would not be allowed for Ms Rayner and her then husband to have both avoided Capital Gains Tax when they sold these properties after they married.

Ms Rayner says she has taken expert tax advice, which she believes confirms her position that no Capital Gains Tax was payable, although she has resisted calls to publish the advice.

She insists she has done nothing wrong and has been backed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in recent weeks.

A Labour spokesperson said: "Angela welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police.

"We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it's now appropriate to let the police do its work."

Conservative minister Grant Shapps said he welcomed the police looking into the issue again.

He said: "The double standards have been extraordinary, Angela Rayner herself has spent her political career calling people out for exactly the thing that she seems to be doing now.

"It's not acceptable to ignore it and it's not acceptable for Keir Starmer to say he won't even read reports into it.

"This is something which is a serious matter, it's important it's looked into properly. And I welcome the idea that the police are doing that."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68797258