Rayner fan Burnham will have no role in her police probe
ANDY Burnham once hailed Angela Rayner as an ‘amazing politician’ – but now the Greater Manchester mayor has been forced to clarify he will have no involvement in the police investigation into the Labour Deputy Leader’s housing affairs.
Mr Burnham’s role incorporates the Police and Crime Commissioner for the region, which includes oversight of policing priorities and budgets.
The role is delegated to the deputy mayor, Kate Green, but Burnham – who is up for re- election for a third term in office on May 2 – has been urged ‘not to take a public position’ or appear with Ms Rayner until the investigation concludes.
Ms Rayner is being investigated over claims she wrongly declared on the electoral roll she was living at a council house she bought under right to buy, on Vicarage Road, Stockport - when she was living primarily at her husband Mark’s home a mile away in Lowndes Lane. Under electoral law, parliamentary candidates must be registered to vote at their permanent address.
She has also faced questions over whether she should have paid capital gains tax on the council house when it was sold in 2015 for a £48,500 profit, if it was not her principal residence.
Mr Burnham’s spokesman said: ‘ In line with established practice . . . neither the mayor nor the deputy mayor have had, nor will have, any involvement in this investigation. It is a purely operational matter for GMP.’
The statement came after Tory MP Chris Clarkson told The Mail on Sunday it was important Mr Burnham ‘does not take any public position on this or appear with her until the inquiry is concluded’. He said: ‘ It’s not just about justice being done but also about justice being seen to be done.’
Senior officers at Greater Manchester Police were understood to have been meeting yesterday to discuss how to proceed with the investigation. Mr Burnham’s stance comes after having previously been a cheerleader of Ms Rayner’s.
He supported her when she stood to be deputy leader after the party’s election drubbing in 2019, And he later told Sky News: ‘ I’ve seen her over the years develop into the amazing politician that she is today. And in an election when Labour was in some places losing its connection with working- class northern communities, surely a proud, northern, working- class woman should be absolutely front and centre of everything we’re doing?’
In 2021, the pair performed a karaoke duet together at the Labour Party conference.
Ms Rayner has denied any wrongdoing but says she will resign if she was ‘found to have committed a criminal offence’.