Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has publicly backed his deputy Angela Rayner, who is facing scrutiny over the sale of her former council house and the tax implications.

Ms Rayner, who bought the property under Margaret Thatcher’s right to buy scheme, sold it in 2015 and has been accused of not paying the appropriate capital gains tax.

She has also been challenged over the accuracy of her official documents, which showed two different addresses for her living arrangements.

Ms Rayner has rejected any allegations of wrongdoing and has maintained that she ‘lived there, paid the bills there and was registered to vote there’ until she moved out.

She has also denied being a landlady despite neighbours saying she let the house to her brother.

‘Absolute confidence in the answers’

A spokesman for Sir Keir said that he had ‘absolute confidence in the answers that her team have given to these questions’.

He believes Ms Rayner had not breached electoral law or lied in her public statement.

However, the spokesman did not confirm that Sir Keir considered the issue resolved or that he had spoken to Ms Rayner about it.

He also said that it was up to Ms Rayner to answer whether she had paid all the tax she owed.

A source of embarrassment for Sir Keir

The controversy has been a source of embarrassment for Sir Keir, who has previously criticised various Conservatives MPs, including Rishi Sunak, for not paying their fair share of taxes.

Labour has also suggested that it could end the right to buy scheme, which has led to accusations of hypocrisy against Ms Rayner.

The allegations against her first came to light in an unauthorised biography of Ms Rayner written by Lord Ashcroft.

James Daly, the Tory deputy chairman, has demanded a police investigation into whether she provided false information about her living circumstances.

‘Angela Rayner has been asked a series of extremely simple questions’

He told The Telegraph: “Angela Rayner has been asked a series of extremely simple questions in relation to her tax affairs and why she was registered to vote somewhere other than where she lived.

“These are the kind of questions she demands Conservatives answer day in day out.

“If she has an innocent explanation as to why she was registered to vote at a house her neighbours say she moved out of five years ago and why she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax then she can provide it and draw a line under the matter. The fact that she won’t speaks volumes.”

Should have paid capital gains on the sale of her home

Politax, a tax blog, said it was likely that Ms Rayner should have paid capital gains on the sale of her home but said the amount would have been small.

Married couples are only allowed to register one principal address at any one time, meaning Mr Rayner should also have to have been registered at her address.

The blog said it was ‘quite possible Angela Rayner has made a mistake and was due to pay CGT’ but estimated the potential bill at around £3,000.

Another political blogger, Guido Fawkes, says Ms Rayner ‘cannot answer the questions’ and says any media questions are passed by Sir Keir’s office to the Labour Party press office.

In turn, they then pass the request onto Angela Rayner’s press team who, according to Guido, offer ‘crickets’.

She bought under the Right to Buy scheme

Ms Rayner troubles stem from registering the former council house in Stockport, which she bought under the Right to Buy scheme in 2007, as her main address on the electoral roll.

As a result, when she sold the property in 2015, making a profit of £48,000, she was not liable to pay capital gains tax on that money.

But weeks after marrying Mark Rayner in 2010, she had re-registered the births of her two youngest children at his address, just over a mile away.

That has raised questions over whether she moved in with her estranged husband but did not update her address on the electoral register.

Former neighbours in Vicarage Road have told the Daily Mail that only her brother, Darren, was living there and that he described her as his ‘landlady’.

An offence under the Representation of the People Act

Providing false information on the electoral register is an offence under the Representation of the People Act which carries a potential punishment of a prison sentence and/or unlimited fine.

Giving false information on a birth certificate is an offence of perjury under the Perjury Act and it too carries a punishment of a fine or imprisonment.

HMRC says that married couples living together can only have one main home in two years.

Mr Rayner sold his house in 2016, so the couple could not get relief on both homes.

Ms Rayner said she did not have to pay CGT when she sold her house – but her spokesman did not answer if she had to pay the tax on her husband’s house.

Claims against her are ‘a constant stream of smears’

Ms Rayner has said on social media that the claims against her are a ‘a constant stream of smears from the usual suspects’.

“I’ve never been a ‘landlady’, owned a property portfolio or been a non-dom,” she wrote.

“As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.

“For all the unhealthy interest taken in my family by Lord Ashcroft and his friends, there is no suggestion any rules have been broken.”

Ms Rayner said she and her husband had “mutually decided to maintain our existing residences to reflect our circumstances” after marrying.

Editors Note copy from >> https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home

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