- Labour’s deputy leader appeared to have given two different addresses
- Tories have written to Greater Manchester Police demanding an investigation
Calls are mounting for Angela Rayner to face a police probe into whether she provided false information about her living circumstances before she sold her former council home.
The Tories have written to Greater Manchester Police to demand an investigation after Labour’s deputy leader appeared to have given two different addresses in official documents.
The claim is contained in a new book Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner by Lord Ashcroft, which will be serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday next month.
Documents show that the 43-year-old MP bought an ex-council house in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in 2007 under Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy pledge.
Ms Rayner, who is also shadow housing secretary, has been accused of ‘pulling up the ladder’ for other social housing tenants as she has vowed to review the policy if Labour wins the election.
She sold the property eight years later, making a £48,500 profit. Tenants must repay some of the discount they received if they sell within five years.
The allegation has prompted questions about where Ms Rayner lived during that time.
The confusion is significant because under electoral rules, voters are expected to register at their permanent home address.
Anyone who knowingly provides false information about the address they are registered to vote at could face conviction and a prison sentence.
Official documents seen by the Mail on Sunday show that she was registered on the electoral roll at the ex-council house in Vicarage Road for five years after she married Mark Rayner in 2010.
Despite them being newlyweds, her husband was listed elsewhere – a house in Lowndes Lane, just over a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.
More mysteriously, when Ms Rayner re-registered the births of her two youngest children that same year, she gave her address as Lowndes Lane.
It is not clear, therefore, where she was living after her marriage.
Last night, Tory MP James Daly wrote to Greater Manchester Police to ask that they investigate whether she gave the correct information.
‘There is a strong public interest in looking into this matter,’ he said. The Mail on Sunday interviewed neighbours of both properties who claimed that Ms Rayner moved out of Vicarage Road in 2009 and into Lowndes Lane.
Lord Ashcroft’s book says that one neighbour had claimed that her brother Darren had moved in after she moved out when her two youngest children were born.
A neighbour in Lowndes Lane said Ms Rayner and her husband had lived there with their children from the summer of 2009.
Ms Rayner posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the house purchase had been ‘by the book’ and said it was a ‘proud moment’ for her.
She said: ‘Being able to buy my council house back in 2007 was a proud moment for me. I worked hard, saved and bought it by the book. I’m not ashamed – but I am angry that the Tories have since put the dream of a secure home out of reach for so many others.’
Ms Rayner accused Lord Ashcroft of taking an ‘unhealthy interest in my family’ and ‘kicking down’ at people like her ‘who graft in tough circumstances to get on in life’.However, she did not clarify details of her living arrangements at the time.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘Angela, who had an older child from a previous relationship, and her husband maintained their existing residences before moving into their shared marital home.
‘Their son was born just 23 weeks into her pregnancy and spent eight months in intensive care, requiring ongoing support from a wide network of friends and family, including Angela’s brother. Beyond the smears, there is no suggestions any rules have been broken.’
Right-to-buy was one of Margaret Thatcher’s flagship policies, allowing social housing tenants to buy the properties they had rented at a generous discount. It has long been opposed by the Left, and Labour has committed to review the policy if it wins the election.
A spokesman for the Electoral Commission did not comment on Ms Rayner’s circumstances but said: ‘Normally a person is resident at an address if it is their permanent home address. Whether someone is eligible to be on the register at an address is for the relevant electoral registration officer.
‘It is an offence to knowingly provide false information in the voter registration application form. If convicted, a person may be imprisoned for up to six months and/or face an unlimited fine.
‘This would be a matter for the police to investigate.’
Stockport Council did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
Last night a Labour spokesman added: ‘Angela was registered to vote at the home she owned and lived in. The Tories are once again wasting everyone’s time with political game-playing.’
Ms Rayner – who last week met ministers in India for a conference of global economists and politicians – is not the first Labour MP to be accused of hypocrisy. Earlier this year, the Mail revealed that backbencher Apsana Begum was still living in a council flat more than two years after admitting ‘it’s probably not something that I need’. And former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott was revealed to have sent her child to private school in 2003.
It came after she had previously condemned former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former acting deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman for not sending their children to traditional state schools.
She later admitted her decision was ‘indefensible’.
Ms Harman sent her child to grammar school in 1996 despite Labour opposing the system.
Former education secretary Ruth Kelly was also criticised after sending her child to private school in 2007.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
