Council house row was Tory attempt to smear me, says Angela Rayner

Angela Rayner has claimed a row over the sale of her former council house was “manufactured” in an attempt to “smear” her.

The Labour deputy leader accused the Tories of whipping up the “non-story” to soil her name, as she insisted the police had found “no issues” with her affairs.

The spat revolves around the amount of tax Ms Rayner should have paid when she sold her home in Vicarage Lane, Stockport, in 2015.

The principal question is whether she should have been liable for capital gains tax, based on her primary residence at the time.

Last month, James Daly, the Conservative MP for Bury North, wrote to Greater Manchester Police to demand an investigation, arguing there was “strong public interest” in looking into the matter.

‘No rules broken’

Asked about the controversy on BBC Newsnight, Ms Rayner insisted the police had found “no issues there” and accused the Tories of stirring up a row to create a stain on her character.

“I’ve been very clear there’s no rules broken,” she said.

“They [the Conservatives] tried to manufacture a police investigation.

“They [the police] said there’s no issues there. I got tax advice which says there was no capital gains tax. It’s a non-story manufactured to try and smear me.”

Ms Rayner registered the Stockport house, 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 on Lowndes Lane, just over a mile away.

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

HMRC rules state that married couples or civil partners can only count one property as their primary residence.

‘I wasn’t aware of the HMRC rules’

Ms Rayner said she wasn’t aware of this when she sold the property, but insisted she has since been advised that she did not owe any capital gains tax.

“I was a home care worker, you know, I didn’t have an accountant,” she said.

“I had, as most people would: you put your house on the market, you get a legal conveyancing solicitor, and you get an estate agent.

“But since those allegations were put to me, I got expert tax advice to make sure that I hadn’t done anything wrong.”

She continued: “No, I wasn’t aware of the HMRC rules... when I sold that property.

“I sold it as most people would put it on the market, got the solicitor and the estate agents, etc. Since those allegations were put to me, the tax laws on capital gains tax and principal private residency etc, is very complex, including marriage.

“I got that advice that is categoric that I do not owe any capital gains tax on that.”