Police dropped an investigation into Angela Rayner’s living arrangements yesterday – but her former neighbours were left furious.
The deputy Labour leader will face no further action by officers over questions about where she was living when she sold her Right-to-Buy home.
Announcing their decision, Greater Manchester Police said it had also passed information on to Stockport Council and HMRC, but they too will be taking no further action against the Ashton-under-Lyne MP.
Her former neighbours reacted with a mixture of anger and disbelief to the news yesterday, describing it as ‘ridiculous’.
Sylvia Hampson, 83, had claimed that Ms Rayner was living next door to her in a terraced home – owned by her then husband, Mark Rayner – in Lowndes Lane in Stockport for a good ‘six or seven years’, rather than in the ex-council house she later sold.
The mother-of-two, who gave evidence to the police investigation, said: ‘It’s bloody ridiculous.
‘I know the truth and so does my son. She was definitely living next door to me and she knows she was.’
Chris Hinett, 64, who lives a few doors down from the house where Ms Rayner claimed she lived in Vicarage Road, Stockport, also reacted with anger.
He said Ms Rayner described herself as ‘the landlord’ at the house as he intervened in a row over a broken window before she sold it.
The car salesman said of her being cleared: ‘It’s disgusting. I co-operated with the police but when they knock on my door next time, I won’t bother.
‘It’s the police’s job to investigate election law. She is potentially going to be the next deputy prime minister – it’s not right.’
Police were investigating a breach of electoral law amid allegations she registered to vote at her ex-council house while in fact letting her brother live there.
Ms Rayner yesterday blamed ‘desperate tactics’ by the Tories for the row.
‘I welcome the conclusion of the police investigation and confirmation that no further action will be taken,’ she said in a statement.
‘We have seen the Conservative Party use this playbook before – reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their dire record.
‘The public have had enough of these desperate tactics from a Tory government with nothing else to say after 14 years of failure.’
A Labour Party spokesman said Ms Rayner had ‘always been clear’ that she was not liable for capital gains tax on the sale of her former council home that she bought under Thatcher’s Right-to-Buy policy.
The spokesman said that she took ‘expert tax and legal advice’ – though she has never published that advice. Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News: ‘I never doubted that Angela hadn’t done anything wrong. And now she’s been completely cleared by the police. And that means that Angela can be campaigning with us.’
Police began investigating Ms Rayner after The Mail on Sunday published claims made by neighbours in a book about her by Lord Ashcroft. Ms Rayner insisted she lived primarily in her own home in Stockport, while her then husband, and father to two of her three children, lived a mile away. This was disputed by former neighbours, who said she lived with her husband and children, and a political aide who gave a statement to police.
The reports prompted questions over whether she failed to pay capital gains tax on the sale of the house she owned and also about her council tax arrangements.
Ms Rayner claimed she had never been liable for capital gains tax but refused to publish advice she said exonerated her.
Yesterday, a Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: ‘Following allegations about Angela Rayner MP, Greater Manchester Police has completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation.
‘We have concluded that no further police action will be taken.’
The police said matters involving tax did not fall within their jurisdiction but they had shared information with Stockport Council and HM Revenue and Customs. Stockport Council said it had reviewed the information and also concluded that no further action will be taken. HMRC would not comment on an individual’s tax affairs, but it is understood they had already looked into the matter at Ms Rayner’s request and concluded there was no capital gains tax liability.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘As the tax expert and Labour Party member Dan Neidle has said, Rayner still hasn’t provided an explanation. Sir Keir Starmer could easily clear this up by simply reading and then publishing the tax advice Labour claims will exonerate his under-fire deputy.’