Angela Rayner asserted her innocence, contending that she acted appropriately when she sold her council house, following the police’s announcement they were reviewing a decision not to investigate.
The deputy Labour leader said she was confident she had not broken any rules.
Greater Manchester police are reconsidering their previous decision not to look into allegations that Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner may have violated electoral laws. This change comes after Conservative Member of Parliament James Daly filed a complaint regarding the police’s handling of the matter.
The Conservative Party intensified calls for an investigation into claims that Rayner owed capital gains tax (CGT) from the sale of her council house before her tenure as an MP.
These allegations surfaced in a book authored by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, alleging that Rayner had not adequately disclosed her primary residence.
“I am confident that I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. I’ve been very clear on the advice that I’ve received,” said Rayner.
She emphasized she had received tax advice at that time and had followed the proper process. Rayner insisted on Thursday, March 28 she was happy to hand this advice over to the police or HMRC but would not make it public.
“I’ve been very clear, I will if HMRC [HM Revenue & Customs] want that information, I will comply and give HMRC that information. If the police want that information, and they want me to give them that information, I’m happily going to give that information. But I’m not going to put out all of my personal details for the last 15 years.”
Angela Rayner
Rayner asserted that the allegations were politically motivated. “What the police have done, they’ve conducted an investigatory review, following pressure from the Conservative deputy chair, and concluded there was no case to answer,” she said.
Rayner and Starmer’s Regional Agenda
Rayner also argued that “Boris Johnson was on to something” with his leveling up agenda while he was prime minister. She and Labour leader, Keir Starmer, vowed on Thursday to revive the plan to redress regional inequality.
In an article ahead of Labour’s local election campaign launch, Rayner and Starmer wrote that the Conservatives under Johnson were “starting to understand” the issues behind regional inequality but accused Rishi Sunak of killing the agenda.
According to Rayner “There is a consensus, I would argue in the country that that work needed to be done.”
“The problem was that the Tories then decided not to do that, hollowed out and took money under the guise of austerity from those areas and then created this Dragons’ Den bidding process where councils spent millions of pounds bidding against each other for little pots of their own money back.”
Angela Rayner
Rayner remains steadfast in her determination to push forward with her proposed reforms to bolster workers’ rights, despite facing criticism from Peter Mandelson, a key figure in the formation of New Labour and former business secretary.
Labour’s agenda includes pledges to outlaw zero-hours contracts and enhance safeguards for workers against unjust dismissals, as well as to improve sick pay and parental leave entitlements from the outset of employment.
Mandelson recently wrote an article cautioning against what he perceives as undue haste in implementing these changes advocated by trade unions.
Rayner said, “I’m not going to slow it down. I’ve been working with business and with the trade unions and I’ve been working with all different sectors on this.”
Acknowledging the detrimental effects of insecure employment on individuals’ lives and businesses’ operations, Rayner stressed the need for a rebalancing.
She highlighted the widespread recognition that the prevalence of insecure work not only impacts individuals but also leads to challenges for employers in recruiting and retaining staff, resulting in high turnover rates and diminished profits.
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