Keir’s show of defiance with Angela
SIR Keir Starmer yesterday made a point of appearing alongside Angela Rayner after a week of bad headlines for his deputy.
The pair were visiting new homes in Derby to announce their “five golden rules” about housebuilding.
They wore high-vis jackets and hard hats before joining a resident for a chat in a kitchen.
Ms Rayner is at the centre of a storm about her former home, over whether she broke electoral law or dodged capital gains tax. Sir Keir has dismissed the row as Tory “smears”.
This week Greater Manchester Police said a dozen officers would probe “multiple” allegations. It was also alleged that Labour destroyed files that could have shone a light on Ms Rayner’s living arrangements when selected as a Labour candidate in 2014.
Yesterday it was revealed that Ms Rayner’s eldest son was registered to live at her thenhusband’s address in Stockport, which Ms Rayner says was not her main residence.
Affordable
However, Labour insists that this latest claim does “not contradict anything” in Ms Rayner’s previous statements.
It added: “The rules were followed at all times.”
Meanwhile, Sir Keir pledged that his Government would boost construction not just of affordable homes but also schools and GP practices.
He pledged to “take on the blockers and back the dream of home ownership”, targeting so-called “grey belt” areas of unattractive disused land.
He promised Labour would put “brown field” first but the grey belt is ripe for development.
Sir Keir said: “We’ll prioritise ugly, disused grey belt land and set tough new conditions for releasing that land.”
A poll shows voters are 50% more likely to support housebuilding on green belt land if it is described as “grey belt”. Just 13% of Londoners surveyed correctly identified the definition of “green belt”.