Rayner ex-aide contradicts her to police investigators
ANGELA Rayner is facing fresh pressure after her former aide wrote to police contradicting her claims about her previous living arrangements.
Matt Finnegan said when he visited her then-husband Mark’s property in Stockport in 2014 it was clearly her main home.
The Labour Deputy Leader has insisted she lived separately from him at her ex-council house about a mile away.
Greater Manchester Police is investigating whether Ms Rayner broke electoral law over allegations she may have given false information about her main residence a decade ago. She denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Finnegan, who left her employment with a £20,000 payout and
‘There was no doubt this was Ms Rayner’s family home’
non-disclosure agreement after accusing her of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal, said he “vividly” remembers visiting her around the time she became a parliamentary candidate.
In a statement to the force, reported by a newspaper, he said: “There was no doubt in my mind that this was Ms Rayner’s family home, where she lived with her then-husband, Mark.”
Ms Rayner may owe capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her former council house if it was not her main residence. The Labour firebrand has promised to resign if she is found to have committed a crime.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Ms Rayner is “very keen to” co-operate with police. She said: “It allows her to set out all the facts – not the sort of gossip, not the different allegations we’ve had from Conservative MPs.”
Police initially said they would not be investigating the allegations but reassessed information and launched a probe following a complaint from Tory Deputy Chairman James Daly.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the probe and said he had “full confidence” in his deputy.
A Labour spokesman said: “Angela has always made clear she also spent time at her husband’s property when they had children and got married, as he did at hers. The house she owned remained her main home.
“Angela looks forward to sitting down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter.”
On why Sir Keir Starmer had not read Ms Rayner’s legal advice despite members of his team having seen it, Ms Cooper said: “I certainly wouldn’t expect to see the personal advice about personal finances of any of my colleagues.”
Conservative party chairman Richard Holden said: “Yvette Cooper confirmed Sir Keir Starmer still hasn’t even looked at Angela Rayner’s legal advice despite admitting his team have seen it. “It’s crystal clear that he is deliberately avoiding dealing with this serious ethics scandal because he is too weak to lead.
“Rather than sniping from the sidelines, having spent weeks covering for Ms Rayner, it is time Sir Keir Starmer overcomes his weakness and launches an independent investigation into this whole situation so the public can know who is telling the truth and who knew what when.”