Angela Rayner cleared by police over housing allegations

Angela Rayner cleared by police over housing allegations

9:31 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago 9

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Angela Rayner will not face any further action from Greater Manchester Police over housing allegations, but details of the probe have been passed onto HMRC and Stockport council.  

Ms Rayner faced allegations of avoiding capital gains tax when selling her former council house in 2015 and electoral roll fraud.

She has maintained that she followed all regulations and pledged to step down if any criminal offence was found.

No further police action

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “Following allegations about Angela Rayner MP, Greater Manchester Police has completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation.  We have concluded that no further police action will be taken.

“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.”

Stockport council have also confirmed they will not take any further action against Ms Rayner.

A spokesperson for Stockport Council said: “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.”

Not to publish advice

The initial accusation came from an unauthorised biography of Ms Rayner by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft which suggested that she may have avoided capital gains tax when selling her former council house in 2015.

That property was registered as her main address on the electoral roll.

But that raised questions about her living arrangements, particularly after the re-registration of her two youngest children’s births.

They were registered at her husband’s separate address shortly after their marriage in 2010.

Ms Rayner has stated that she consulted with tax experts to ensure she did not owe tax but has chosen not to publish the advice she received.

Draws a line under the matter

Keir Starmer has backed Ms Rayner throughout the investigation and accused the Tories of ‘chasing a smear’ against her.

A Labour Party spokesman said: “The police have now completed their investigation into claims made by the Conservative Party deputy chairman and have concluded that no further action will be taken. Angela co-operated fully with the police investigation throughout.

“Angela has always been clear that she was not liable for capital gains tax on the sale of the home she owned before she was an MP, that she was properly registered to vote, and paid the appropriate council tax. She took expert tax and legal advice which confirms this.

“This draws a line under the matter.”


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Comments

Small Portfolio Landlord

9:43 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

What a crock! One rule for one and another for others.
It doesn't matter whether she was renting it or not; once married the couple are only allowed to have one main residence and they clearly had 2.
I think I'll buy my wife a house and she can declare that as her main residence. Wonder if I'll get the same treatment...
Also is the MP calling for openness from all MP's but won't publish her tax own advice. Double-standards all the way!

Kevin Wade

9:52 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

The police may have finished with her for electoral fraud, but as the HMRC is non political I wonder if they have finished? What about this bloke that says he will swear he was a tenant in that house? What about the neighbours that say it was rented out? Has tax been declared on that if there was a tenant. As this was before she became an MP was she claiming benefits of any kind.

I still think this is going to haunt her. TBH I don't much care who gets in next election but I don't want her anti landlord backside in a cabinet post.

Tim

10:01 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

I wrote to the police some time ago and the officer dealing with it refused to log the complaint. i have the e mail trail. there's stuff like renting out on a residential mortgage, tax on rental income a whole tranche of other stuff. frankly think that there should be an independent transparent enquiry on the investigation

moneymanager

10:07 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

'Ms Rayner has stated that she consulted with tax experts to ensure she did not owe tax but has chosen not to publish the advice she received'

Every investor who received barrister's opinion on film investment and on films that passed the DCMS test got investigated and many got taken to the cleaners.

DPT

11:02 AM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

I dont think this is the end of the story. These things have a habit of returning to bite politicians on the bum. At some point a journalist or paid investigator is going to track down the person she rented it to and produce enough evidence to force her to quit.

Roberta Goodall

20:04 PM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 29/05/2024 - 11:02
We know who she rented it to - her own brother! Doubt he's now going to implicate her, but the parents of the child who broke the window will swear that he said he would get in touch with his landlord, who turned out to be Angela who then phoned the parents demanding a ludicrous amount of money to fix a small window. She said something about her brother being too soft, but she isn't. I really don't know how she's got off with this!

Stella

20:51 PM, 29th May 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by Kevin Wade at 29/05/2024 - 09:52
There was a photograph of her Kitchen ( Howdens kitchen) in a paper a few weeks ago which she claimed cost her £25,000 which must have been installed several years ago as she claims that because she offset the cost of the kitchen that she did not pay any CGT

Jim

9:47 AM, 1st June 2024, About a month ago

The Brother was supposed to have done the building work, so the work around story has probably been that he has formally stated that he did £25,000 of building work which included the kitchen and other stuff which they are trying to class as a capital expense so will come off any capital gain when she sold the property so that she is under any taxable capital gains tax profit. The Brother will not have declared any income from the £25,000 and so has probably now had to pay back tax and a small bit of interest but at least it gets his high profile Sister off the hook. The Brother is supposed to be vulnerable and so would get off lightly with HMRC. For the record installing a new kitchen is not a capital expense unless unless there is a significant improvement from what was originally installed. I need to find her tax adviser for myself as they seem quite creative.

Steve Hards

17:42 PM, 4th June 2024, About a month ago

The headline (Angela Rayner cleared by police over housing allegations) is misleading. She wasn't 'cleared' by the police, they just said it wasn't a police matter. Could we have a bit more precision in Propperty118 reporting, please?

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