Labour’s Angela Rayner has brutally responded to the Tory MP who complained to the police over a row involving her ex-council house.
Sharing The Mirror’s front page – ‘Cops Drop Rayner Probe’ – on X, Ms Rayner said “Morning” and tagged James Daly, who is also the Conservatives’ Deputy chairman. Mr Daly does not appear to have commented since Greater Manchester Police dropped the case following a “thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation”.
It comes after the party’s Deputy leader was “vindicated” yesterday as the police force said now action will be taken amid allegations she broke electoral law. Labour MPs, including a Shadow Cabinet Minister, accused the Tories of wasting police time over the case involving the sale of Ms Rayner’s council house almost a decade ago.
In a statement on Tuesday, GMP added: “The investigation originated from complaints made by Mr James Daly MP directly to GMP. Subsequent further contact with GMP by members of the public, and claims made by individuals featured in media reporting, indicated a strong public interest in the need for allegations to be investigated.
“Matters involving council tax and personal tax do not fall into the jurisdiction of policing. GMP has liaised with Stockport Council and information about our investigation has been shared with them. Details of our investigation have also been shared with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).”
(
Getty Images)
A spokesman for Stockport Council added: “Stockport Council has reviewed and responded to all correspondence relating to this matter, including information received from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) who have concluded that no further police action will be taken. We have also concluded that no further action will be taken on behalf of the council.”
The Mirror also understands Ms Rayner had requested HMRC to look into the matter and they confirmed to her that there was no capital gains tax liability on the sale of her council house in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in 2015. HMRC would not comment on an individual’s tax affairs.
Ms Rayner came out fighting last month and vowed to resign from her position last month if she was found to have committed a criminal offence. But in a statement yesterday, she welcomed the end of the probe and hit out at the “desperate tactics from a Tory government with nothing else to say after 14 years of failure”.
Referring to the failed Covid “Beergate” campaign pushed by the Tories in 2021 against herself and Mr Starmer, she added:“We have seen the Conservative Party use this playbook before – reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their dire record.”
Labour leader Mr Starmer said his Deputy had “been vindicated”. He told reporters on the election campaign trail: “I never doubted that Angela hadn’t done anything wrong and now she’s been cleared by the police.”
Questions over the Deputy leader’s living arrangements first emerged in an unauthorised biography by the billionaire former Tory peer, Lord Ashcroft. Ms Rayner was accused of falsely claiming that she was living at an ex-council house she owned when she was living at her then husband Mark Rayner’s house a mile down the road.
Critics said she may have broken electoral law as she should not have been registered on the electoral roll if she did not live there. But Ms Rayner had insisted that Vicarage Road was her “principal property” despite her husband living elsewhere at the time. She also faced questions about whether she should have paid capital gains tax when her home was sold and if she paid the correct amount of council tax.
Ms Rayner is said to have sold the property she bought under the Right to Buy scheme, making a £48,500 profit, almost a decade ago. Couples can normally only count one property as their main home for capital gains tax purposes, prompting questions over whether she should have paid it.