Deputy Labour Party leader Angela Rayner during her meeting with Labour mayors and mayoral candidates in Birmingham. Picture date: Wednesday March 27, 2024. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)Angela Rayner has insisted she has “done nothing wrong” over claims she broke electoral law and failed to pay enough tax.
Labour’s deputy leader went on the attack after police in Manchester confirmed they have re-opened their investigation into the affair, after initially clearing the MP of any wrongdoing.
Rayner is accused of providing the wrong information about her living arrangements after she got married in 2010.
At the time, she lived in an ex-council house in Stockport that she had bought in 2007.
According to a biography of Rayner by former Tory chairman Lord Ashcroft, she was registered on the electoral roll as living at the same address until she sold the property in 2015.
However, she is accused of actually living at her husband’s house nearby, leading to claims that the profit she made on her property should have been subject to capital gains tax.
On Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, Rayner said: “I’ve done nothing wrong.
“I wouldn’t lie about my tax advice. That would be ridiculous, unless I’m being accused of being a liar.
“I’m literally saying I’ve had my tax advice and that’s clear. I’ll comply with HMRC or the police or any authority, but if the Conservatives are going down the road of ‘we all have to publish’, then if they want to publish theirs I’ll happily publish mine.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “We have received a complaint regarding our decision not to investigate an allegation and are in the process of reassessing this decision.
“The complainant will be updated with the outcome of the reassessment in due course.”
