Police launch new quiz on claims ‘two homes’ Rayner broke the law
‘Ensure all avenues are explored’
POLICE are ‘reassessing’ claims that Angela Rayner broke electoral law over the mystery about her ‘multiple homes’. Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy was initially exonerated over claims that she may have committed an offence by remaining registered to vote at her former council house, despite allegedly moving in with her husband.
But concerns were raised that the complaint – made by Tory deputy chairman James Daly MP – was ‘ not handled properly’ as it was rejected by Greater Manchester Police after just seven working days.
The Bury North MP asked the force to take another look to maintain ‘public confidence’, with a senior detective confirming she has been asked to ‘reassess’ the decision.
Ms Rayner, responding to the question of whether she owed tax when she sold the ex-council house before becoming an MP, told Newsnight last week that it was ‘a non-story manufactured to try and smear me’.
Mr Daly wrote to the force on February 25, receiving a misspelled reply in the early hours of March 6 marked ‘ Complaint Angela Raynor’.
The reply, from Detective Superintendent Steve Bridge, head of GMP’s major incident team, stated that he had carried out an ‘investigative review’ and had concluded ‘ there wasn’t a case to answer’.
In response to Mr Daly’s request for them to ‘re- examine their investigation and ensure that all avenues are explored’, Detective Chief Inspector Cheryl Hughes has now acknowledged the ‘concern over the lack of investigation into the matters you raised in your initial complaint’.
‘Following receipt of your recent letter dated March 13, 2024, I have been requested to review the circumstances you have outlined to reassess our decision around an investigation,’ she wrote. ‘I will update with the outcome.’ Ms Rayner has faced weeks of scrutiny over whether she should have paid capital gains tax when she sold the property in Stockport in 2015, for a £48,500 profit.
Neighbours of the house in Vicarage Road have said she did not live there after marrying her then husband, Mark – despite remaining on the electoral roll.
Tax experts have pointed out that a married couple can have only one main residence for capital gains tax purposes. On the basis that this was her husband’s house in Lowndes Lane, they have estimated Ms Rayner would have faced a CGT bill of £1,500 to £3,000 when she sold the Vicarage Road house.
Ms Rayner, 43, has declined to go into detail about her tax affairs but says – based on ‘taken expert tax and legal advice’ she has sought since the row erupted – no tax was payable on the sale.
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.
‘Angela Rayner has set out her family’s circumstances and has taken expert tax and legal advice which confirms that no capital gains tax was payable on the sale of her home.’
The claims first emerged in Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner by Lord Ashcroft, serialised in the Mail.