The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Rayner: I will quit if guilty over house row
Test for Sir Keir Starmer as Labour Left defends embattled deputy leader
ANGELA RAYNER has promised to step down as deputy leader of the Labour Party if she is found to have committed a criminal offence.
In a defiant statement, she said she was “completely confident” that she had followed the rules at all times after police launched an investigation into claims she had broken electoral law. She also accused the Conservatives of reporting her to the police as a political tactic.
Greater Manchester Police is investigating claims she wrongly declared which house was her permanent address on the electoral register, which is a criminal offence.
Ms Rayner has also faced questions about whether she should have paid capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her council house, owing to the confusion over whether it was her principal residency or whether she was living with her then-husband at a separate address.
Senior Tories demanded she resign – pointing out that she and Sir Keir Starmer had called on Boris Johnson to quit when police launched an investigation into him over “partygate”.
Sir Keir now faces a test of his authority after the Labour Left jumped to defend his deputy over the police investigation. Soon after the announcement, both Ed Miliband and Sadiq Khan came out with strong messages backing the frontbencher. But it took the Labour leader four hours to show his support publicly. In an interview with ITV, Sir Keir refused three times to say whether Ms Rayner would have to quit if police charged her.
In her statement last night, Ms Rayner said: “If I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down.”
She added: “I’ve repeatedly said I would welcome the chance to sit down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter. I am completely confident I’ve followed the rules at all times.
“I have always said that integrity and accountability are important in politics. That’s why it’s important that this is urgently looked at, independently and without political interference.
“I make no apologies for having held Conservative ministers to account in the past. Indeed, the public would rightly expect me to do so as a deputy leader of the opposition.”
She added: “We have seen the Tory Party use this playbook before – reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their record. I will say, as I did before – if I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down. The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them.
“The questions raised relate to a time before I was an MP and I have set out my family’s circumstances and taken expert tax and legal advice. I look forward to setting out the facts with the relevant authorities at the earliest opportunity.”
The Crown Prosecution Service states that giving false information on the electoral register is a criminal offence, and pursuing “major infringements” would normally be in the public interest. But, it adds: “Proceedings for other infringements may not be in the public interest in situations [such as] a genuine mistake or misunderstanding” or the offence being of a “technical nature”. It means that Ms Rayner could be found to have broken the rules, but not face a charge. It could also mean she would not have to step down if she came to an agreement with HMRC to pay more tax.
In a notably less effusive statement, Sir Keir said: “I am fully confident that Angela Rayner has not broken the rules. She will cooperate with the investigation as you would expect and it is really a matter for the police.”
He repeatedly refused to say if Ms Rayner should resign as deputy leader if she is found to have broken the law. Pushed on the question, Sir Keir said: “The investigation is starting today, she’ll cooperate with that, we need to let the police get on with their job.”
It would be difficult for Sir Keir to remove Ms Rayner as deputy leader, as it is a position elected by members. Jeremy Corbyn, when he was leader of the party, failed in an attempt to get rid of his centrist deputy Tom Watson. If Sir Keir did try to remove Ms Rayner, he is likely to face a backlash from the Left of his party. Yesterday, Mr Miliband said: “We are absolutely 100 per cent behind Angela. We are absolutely confident that she has complied with the rules. She welcomes the fact she can set out the facts.
“My message to the country is, we are incredibly proud of Angela Rayner, our deputy leader. She is an inspiring person, she is exactly the kind of person we need in politics. If a Labour government is elected, I look forward to Angela Rayner serving as deputy prime minister. Frankly, the Conservative Party is a desperate party that has nothing to say to the country about the big issues that it faces.” Mr Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said he was fully confident that his “best friend” would be cleared by the police. “I fully support Angela Rayner, I’m confident that she’ll be vindicated in relation to the police investigation,” he said.
Grant Shapps accused Ms Rayner of “double standards” as he welcomed the police investigation into the Labour deputy leader. The Defence Secretary said : “This is something which is a serious matter. It’s important that it’s looked into properly and I welcome the idea that the police are doing that.”
ANGELA RAYNER has repeatedly dismissed criminal allegations against her as a “Tory smear campaign”.
Now, however, Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy faces the very real prospect of a lengthy police investigation over claims she broke electoral law, and may owe tax related to the sale of a council house.
The announcement from Greater Manchester Police came following weeks of denials, accusations, counteraccusations, and lengthy commentary from tax experts.
The row over whether Ms Rayner owes tax on her property, what house she was living in, and what home she registered to vote at, is complicated.
It began after allegations in an unauthorised biography of Ms Rayner by the former Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, published in March. In the book, Red
Queen, it was reported that in January 2007, Ms Rayner, at the time a single mother, bought a council house on Vicarage Road in Stockport for £79,000.
She paid bills and council tax and was registered to vote at the address.
Her then partner, Mark Rayner, a Unison official, owned a house in Lowndes Lane, around a mile away and the couple married in 2010.
She re-registered the births of their two sons that year, giving her husband’s address. In March 2015, she sold her property for £127,500.
If it was her primary address, where she lived the majority of the time, she would have been exempt from a capital gains tax on the sale.
The seemingly innocuous story became a potential scandal after it emerged Ms Rayner may have in fact been living with her husband on Lowndes Lane.
If that was the case, she may not have been entitled to the exemption, and could owe tax of up to £3,500.
When the allegations emerged, Ms Rayner hit back, telling the BBC’s
Newsnight: “I’ve been very clear, there’s no rules broken. They [the Conservatives] tried to manufacture a police investigation.
“They [the police] said there’s no issues there… It’s a non-story manufactured to try and smear me.”
During the interview, Ms Rayner said that at the time she sold her house she was a care worker and “didn’t have an accountant”. She admitted, however, that since the allegations she had sought expert tax advice to make sure that “she hadn’t done anything wrong”.
“I got that expert advice because if I did owe any capital gains tax, I would have said and I would have paid it.”
Ms Rayner added: “As I say, I sold it as most people would put it on the market, got the solicitor and the estate agents, etc. since those allegations were put to me, the tax laws on capital gains tax and principal private residency, etc. is very complex, including marriage. I got that advice that is categoric that I do not owe any capital gains tax on that.”
At this point, the issue was complicated further, after Ms Rayner was reported to police.
It was alleged that if, as had been reported, she did really live at her husband’s house, she may also have committed electoral fraud as she was registered to vote at her own home.
Under electoral rules, voters must register at their permanent address. Anyone found guilty faces penalties for providing false information, such as a fine of up to £1,000. If the offence is not deemed serious enough to warrant a criminal conviction, civil penalties can also be imposed.
Greater Manchester Police, after considering the allegations, made by James Daly, a Conservative MP, initially decided a criminal investigation was not warranted. On March 27, it said it was reassessing its decision not to investigate Ms Rayner after Mr Daly said crucial witnesses had not been contacted.
The next day, Ms Rayner’s birthday, the BBC’s Nick Robinson offered Ms Rayner an “easy way of dealing with all the questions”. “Simply publish the [tax] advice?,” he suggested.
Ms Rayner said if Mr Daly, Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, published their tax details for the past 15 years, she would do the same. “If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine,” she added.
Sir Keir, when asked about the growing questions Ms Rayner faced, said: “She’s not broken any rules, she’s in fact taken legal and tax advice which has satisfied her and us and me about the position.”
On Sunday April 7, the Mail on
Sunday reported there were more than 30 social media posts on Ms Rayner’s timeline that appeared to contradict her claims that Vicarage Road was always her main home. The paper carried out an investigation, and by cross-checking the images with pictures taken when the house was put on the market in 2015, discovered the majority were taken at Lowndes Lane.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, in November 2012 – five years after she bought the Vicarage Road property and four years before she sold it – says “I can cook”, alongside a picture of two of her children who are standing on the black floor tiles of the kitchen in Lowndes Lane.
Another, taken the same month, reads “play-Doh!!!” next to a picture of one of her children playing with the substance, with the Lowndes Lane garden clearly visible through the kitchen windows. In March 2014, Ms Rayner posted that she is “just back from work” and sitting with her cats on a patchwork sofa that is in the
Lowndes Lane pictures. In February 2015 she posted that her “boys are home”, with a picture of her two youngest children in front of the
‘She’s not broken any rules, she’s in fact taken legal and tax advice which has satisfied her and us and me about the position’
Lowndes Lane tiles and cabinets again. That same month, as she gears up for the 2015 general election, she posted an image of her doing an interview from the sofa at Lowndes Lane.
During this time, it also emerged, Ms Rayner’s brother was living “rent-free” at her house on Vicarage Road.
Neighbours added fuel to the fire by saying Ms Rayner definitely lived on Lowndes Lane with her husband, while her brother definitely lived at the Vicarage Road address. One woman said: “She wasn’t just visiting, she lived there.”
It transpired, after The Telegraph went and spoke to neighbours again, that none had been contacted by police.
The day after the Mail ran the story, Sir Keir was again asked whether he had seen the tax advice given to Ms Rayner, and he admitted he hadn’t.
“I don’t need to see the legal advice, my team has seen it,” he said. It is understood that Labour officials have been through the advice “line by line”. Yesterday, Greater Manchester Police said it had reassessed the decision and would begin an inquiry. The force said: “We’re investigating whether any offences have been committed. This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly.”
Often described as Labour’s attack dog, Angela Rayner has built a reputation for calling out Tory ministers over their tax affairs. She was most vocal calling for the dismissal of Nadhim Zahawi, over questions about his tax affairs and repeatedly questioned the prime minister about his billionaire wife’s non-domiciled status.
Now however, Ms Rayner is perhaps discovering that attack is not always the best form of defence.
It emerged this week that during a by-election in 2021, that Ms Rayner had written to Amanda Milling, the Tory chairman, in 2021, during the Hartlepool by-election campaign, regarding a Tory candidate’s husband spending time in the Cayman Islands.
She said she had “serious concerns” about the candidate, adding: “It is being reported that your candidate Jill Mortimer spent time living in a tax haven where her former husband worked as a banker.” She sent a series of questions about Mrs Mortimer’s family finances, before asking: “In the
‘Angela Rayner has spent her political career calling people out for exactly the thing she seems to be doing now’
interests of transparency, will you now publish a full account of Jill Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands? Will you also order Jill Mortimer to publish her tax returns covering that period?”
In January 2022 Ms Rayner called for Boris Johnson to quit as prime minister after the Metropolitan Police launched an inquiry into whether he had breached lockdown rules.
“Hypocrisy is the worst of political sins,” Sir Simon Clarke, the former Cabinet minister said.
After the investigation was announced, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, accused Ms Rayner of “double standards”. He said: “Angela Rayner herself has spent her political career calling people out for exactly the thing she seems to be doing now.”
Ms Rayner’s colleagues rallied round to protect their deputy leader yesterday, issuing statement after statement in support. “She is an inspiration” and “exactly the kind of person we need in politics”, Ed Miliband, the shadow energy minister, said. Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, said he was confident Rayner, who he called one of his “best friends”, would be vindicated after the investigation.