Rayner, tax and party politics

To The Times

Having served for nine years as an MP, I know how low politicians can stoop when their backs are against the wall. But the Conservative attack on Angela Rayner is one of the most grotesque spectacles of hypocrisy I have witnessed.

On one side is a billionaire Tory peer, Lord Ashcroft, and a multimillionaire Tory prime minister, Rishi Sunak, whose families have all avoided paying millions of pounds in UK tax as beneficiaries of non-dom status and who live lives of luxury. On the other is a woman who grew up in poverty caring for her illiterate mother, who is now mother to a child who is registered blind, and who through her own guts and character has risen to be deputy leader of the Labour Party. Even Rayner’s accusers accept that the most she might have benefitted from the error that they allege – and which she denies – is less than £3,000 in tax.

I suppose that her attackers cannot bear the idea that they are about to lose to a woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps, and who is going wipe the floor with them.

Nick Boles, London

To The Times

While I am not a fan of Angela Rayner, I do find the constant examination and criticism of her personal tax affairs to be an indication of the state of national politics. It would appear that the potential unpaid tax bill in this case amounts to a mere £1,500; in recent years, members of the Government, by contrast, have been accused of failing to pay the correct amount of tax to the tune of millions of pounds.

The tactic is clear: pick a relatively minor issue, blow it up out of all proportion and hope that some of the accusations remain in voters’ minds when the general election is eventually called. On this occasion it is the Tories who are promoting this story, but all the political parties are guilty of using the same tactic, and it demeans politics.

Mike Jones, Lancaster