Angela Rayner defends sale of council home as row threatens to overshadow Labour election launch

Angela Rayner meeting Labour mayors

Angela Rayner was on Thursday forced to defend allegations about the sale of her ex-council house as the ongoing row threatened to overshadow Labour’s local elections campaign launch.

Greater Manchester Police is reassessing its decision not to investigate claims the Labour deputy leader gave false information on official documents. It follows a complaint from Conservative MP James Daly.

Ms Rayner has strongly denied misconduct and said: “I am confident that I have done absolutely nothing wrong.”

She has come under the spotlight in recent weeks over allegations that she avoided capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of a home she owned in Stockport.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP has also faced scrutiny over claims that in 2010 she may have lived primarily at her then-husband’s address but registered to vote under her own, which could have been a breach of electoral rules.

“What the police have done is they have conducted an investigative review following pressure from the Conservative deputy chair and concluded there was no case to answer,” she told BBC’s Today Programme.

“But since then the Conservatives have made a complaint about the police actions and the police are reassessing that. I am confident that I have done absolutely nothing wrong. I have been very clear on the advice that I have received.”

Ms Rayner said she would not publish the tax advice she received on the sale of her council house and would only release the “personal” information to the public if Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak released their tax affairs.

“I don’t need to publish all of my details…It’s not fair on my family for that information to be out there,” she added.

“I’m happy if we’re all going to have a level playing field and we suddenly decide that Conservative ministers need to hand over their tax affairs.

“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine. I will give that information over to the relevant authorities.”

A book by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft accused Ms Rayner of failing to properly declare her main home.

The unauthorised biography alleges she bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road, Stockport, with a 25 per cent discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.

The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

Government guidance states a tenant can apply to buy their council home through right-to-buy if it is their “main home”.

Her husband was listed at another address about a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.

In the same year as her wedding, Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children, giving her address as where her husband resided.

Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy said the party would “respect the process” as she backed Mr Rayner.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday accused the Prime Minister of “bottling” calling a general election as he kickstarted his party’s local election campaign in the West Midlands.

The Labour leader was joined by Ms Rayner at the launch. They criticised the Government for failing working people on levelling up, and affirming their party’s commitment to “full-fat devolution”.

Voters will go to the polls on May 2 to elect local councillors and mayors.

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