Angela Rayner investigated over council tax fraud claims
Police are investigating Angela Rayner over council tax fraud claims alongside possible electoral offences with around a dozen officers assigned to the case.
Stephen Watson, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said on Tuesday that there were “a number of assertions knocking about” that the force would “get to the bottom of”.
Stockport Council is understood to have been assessing correspondence received from James Daly, the Conservative deputy chairman, about what Ms Rayner’s council tax arrangements were.
It is understood to be reviewing whether Ms Rayner claimed a single person’s council tax discount on her council house property on Vicarage Road while allowing her brother to live there.
Ms Rayner claims that she was living at the Vicarage Road house, separately from her husband. However neighbours have said her brother was living at the Vicarage Road property and she was living with her husband at his house on nearby Lowndes Lane.
In a letter to the council, Mr Daly asked whether, if her brother was living at the property with her, and she was claiming the 25 per cent single person discount, that could amount to council tax fraud, which can incur both criminal and civil penalties.
He said the single-person discount can only be claimed for someone’s sole or main residence, adding that there can only be one adult resident in the dwelling.
It also raises the prospect that if Mark Rayner, Ms Rayner’s then husband, was claiming the discount at his Lowndes Lane home, but she was living with him, they would not have been entitled to the discount.
It’s not known whether any of the family claimed the discount.
The council has so far declined to say whether it has handed over any documents to police.
Alongside the council tax claims, Ms Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has also been accused of wrongly declaring her permanent address on the electoral register, which is an offence.
Further questions have been raised over whether she should have paid thousands of pounds in capital gains tax on the sale of her former council house.
A police source told the Times on Tuesday that the investigation was “well resourced”, with at least a dozen detectives, and that officers were looking at more than “a single issue”.
Mr Watson told BBC Radio Manchester: “There are a number of assertions knocking about.
“We, on an initial assessment, made a determination that it was unlikely that we would pursue an investigation on the provision of further investigation or further information.
“We have reassessed that decision, and we have announced that we will launch a formal investigation.
“That is a neutral act – it does not imply that the information gives us any hard and fast evidence upon which to base anything at this stage.
“It is simply that we have an allegation. We are going to get to the bottom of what has happened, and we’ll work out where we go with it.”
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When asked to provide clarity on exactly what offences were being investigated, a spokesperson for GMP said: “Investigations are ongoing and we won’t be commenting further until they have been completed.”
Stockport Council has also been contacted for comment and asked whether it was assisting the police with their enquiries.
Ms Rayner on Friday pledged to step down as deputy leader of the Labour Party if a police investigation found she had committed a crime.
She said: “I’ve repeatedly said I would welcome the chance to sit down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter. I am completely confident I’ve followed the rules at all times.
“I have always said that integrity and accountability are important in politics. That’s why it’s important that this is urgently looked at, independently and without political interference.”
