Police to reassess decision on probe into Angela Rayner election registration

Police could reopen a probe into claims that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner may have broken electoral law over information she gave about her living situation a decade ago.

It comes after James Daly, deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, made Greater Manchester Police aware of neighbours contradicting Ms Rayner’s statement that her property, separate from her husband’s, was her main residency.

The Bury North MP alleged she may have made a false declaration about where she was living on the electoral register.

He was told a detective chief inspector was reassessing the force’s decision not to open an investigation, according to a Conservative Party source.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police 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.”

Ms Rayner has faced scrutiny about whether she paid the right amount of tax on the 2015 sale of her council house due to confusion over whether it was her principal residency.

She has rejected suggestions in a book by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft that she failed to properly declare her main home.

The unauthorised biography alleges that the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, with a 25% discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.

The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

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.

In the same year as her wedding, Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children, giving her address as where her husband resided.

Ms Rayner has insisted that Vicarage Road was her “principal property” despite her husband living elsewhere at the time.

But neighbours have reportedly disputed her claim that she lived apart from her husband.

Tax experts have estimated that, while Ms Rayner may not have owed anything in capital gains tax following the sale depending on her residency situation, there are circumstances in which she could have owed as much as £3,500 to the taxman.

The Opposition frontbencher has said she did “nothing wrong” and that the controversy about her tax affairs was “manufactured” in an attempt to smear her.

Labour frontbencher Steve Reed told reporters on Wednesday: “I haven’t seen the report. But Angela has made her position very, very clear, she has taken independent advice, there is no tax liability and I have absolute confidence in what she is saying.”