Another day, another development in the curious case of Angela Rayner’s tax affairs. It now transpires that the deputy Labour leader is set to face a police interview under caution in the next few weeks. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) will quiz Sir Keir Starmer’s second-in-command over which of her two homes was her primary residence — and they have, it is understood, now contacted her to arrange the meeting.
The Labour frontbencher has insisted she has done nothing wrong
Rayner found herself in the spotlight after the publication of Lord Ashcroft’s Red Queen, when the unofficial biography of the deputy Labour leader unearthed some rather confusing information about her living situation. Documents show she purchased her Vicarage Road council house in Stockport in 2006 under Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme and was registered as living there until 2015. She married Mark Rayner in 2010 — but the couple were, rather confusingly, registered at different addresses for the next five years.
To add to the intrigue, it has since been revealed that Rayner’s two children with her husband Mark were registered at his Lowndes Lane property, along with her eldest son from a previous relationship. In another baffling twist, the Labour party has admitted that Rayner’s selection papers for her 2014 nomination — which would have noted her main address at the time — no longer exist thanks to data protection rules. How curious…
When the deputy Labour leader sold her home in 2015 she legally avoided a capital gains tax of up to £3,500, as she claimed her Vicarage Road house was her main residence. But now police are checking whether Rayner did, in fact, mispay tax. The Labour frontbencher has insisted she has done nothing wrong, and has even promised to resign if she is found to have committed a criminal offence.
Rayner previously told BBC Newsnight that the row has been ‘manufactured’ in an attempt to ‘smear’ her before issuing a rather robust statement last month, stating: ‘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.’
With her job on the line ahead of a looming general election, she’ll be hoping the police come to that conclusion too…
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