The Conservatives are attempting to distract from economic issues facing voters ahead of the May elections by foregrounding questions about Angela Rayner’s tax, David Lammy has claimed.
The Mail On Sunday newspaper claims to have fresh evidence the Labour deputy leader did not correctly outline her tax arrangements.
It pointed to social media posts in which she referred to her husband’s house as “home”, while maintaining her council house was her principle residence.
The newspaper has previously questioned whether she paid enough tax on the 2015 sale of her Stockport home, as it suggested this was not her primary address.
Asked about the reports by Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, shadow foreign secretary Mr Lammy said his colleague has “done nothing wrong”.
He said the newspaper merely had evidence Ms Rayner “had and has a blended family”.
“You meet someone, they have children, a previous arrangement. Many families up and down the country live in more than one home,” he added.
“That’s what the photos I saw reflects and it’s consistent with the advice that Angela took in terms of her tax affairs from accountants and from lawyers. I don’t think this is a story.”
He continued to state that Ms Rayner did not need to publish legal advice she had received on the matter.
The Labour frontbencher later suggested the story was an attempt to distract from the May 2 local elections.
Mr Lammy told the BBC’S Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Why do we land on this northern woman who had an arrangement with her husband, a blended family, why do we focus on her and say that she should be the exception?
“She shouldn’t be the exception. She hasn’t broken any rules.
“This is because of the May elections and the Tories not wanting to concentrate on their actions.
“On rising inflation, of cost of living, on rising utility bills. Those are the issues that we should be focused on, and those are the issues that they want us to obscure.”
Deputy chairman of the Conservative Party James Daly urged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to “show some leadership and open a full, transparent and independent investigation” into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs.
“She should stop dismissing and distracting and come clean now,” Mr Daly added.
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