Police have issued a new statement over allegations Angela Rayner paid the incorrect amount of tax when selling her former home.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP denies any wrongdoing following claims made in a book by a former Conservative Party deputy chairman that she failed to properly declare her main residency.
Ms Rayner insists she consulted tax experts when the sale went through in 2015. Police previously decided not to pursue an investigation, but have now issued a statement saying they are ‘in the process of reassessing this decision’ following a complaint.
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A GMP Spokesperson 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.”
In Lord Ashcroft’s book Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner, he alleges that the MP bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road in Stockport, with a 25 per cent discount in 2007 under right-to-buy, a scheme introduced by former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1980. The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.
An article in the Mail on Sunday (MoS) claimed documents show Ms Rayner was registered on the electoral roll at her former council house for five years after she married Mark Rayner in 2010. Government guidance says that a tenant can apply to buy their council home through the right-to-buy scheme if it is their “only or main home”. Her husband was listed at another address in Lowndes Lane, about a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children in the year she got married, giving her address as her husband’s residence. Ms Rayner insists that Vicarage Road was her “principal property” despite her husband living elsewhere at the time.
Ms Rayner said: “Vicarage Road was my principal property but when my children were born, I would spend time at Lowndes Lane because my children … I had a teenager and two babies.
“My son was born at 23 weeks. I spent eight months in intensive care with him, I wasn’t really bothered about where my clothes were on a certain night. But my house was my house at Vicarage Road and I paid all my bills there, that was my home.
“But I did spend time at Lowndes Lane at times, of course I did. And then when I sold Vicarage Road, I lived at Lowndes Lane because I didn’t have a house and I registered there when I moved in there.
“But there was never any deceivement (sic) or any problems with, or any question about avoiding capital gains or not saying what was right on the electoral roll. That was my house.”
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.
