Another week, another development in the row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs. The deputy Labour leader is facing questions over whether she broke electoral and tax law regarding a former council property she owned in Stockport. The allegations – which Rayner denies – stem from Lord Ashcroft’s biography (titled Red Queen) of the woman in line to be deputy prime minister if Labour triumphs as expected in this year’s general election.
The row has been rumbling along for weeks now but is gaining momentum as the Tories ramp up their attacks. It goes back to the properties she and her then husband Mark Rayner owned in Stockport. When the couple married, Mark Rayner owned 126 Lowndes Lane while Rayner owned 80 Vicarage Road – purchasing it in 2007 under the right to buy scheme. Rayner sold the Vicarage Road property in 2015 for £127,500 shortly after she became an MP.
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