by Angela Rayner has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged she asked a Tory candidate to publish their tax details, while refusing to publish her own.
Labor’s deputy leader has written to the Conservative chairman during a by-election in 2021 asking her to publish Jill Mortimer’s tax return. This is despite her having so far refused to publish her own tax return or the advice she received about selling her Stockport council house in 2015.
Ms Rayner is accused of lying about her former home in Vicar Road, Stockport, which she bought in 2007 using the Right to Buy scheme before making a £48,500 profit when she sold it eight years later .
She was registered at the property for five years after marrying Mark Rayner in 2010, with it listed at another address in Lowndes Lane, a mile away.
The confusion over whether the property was her primary residence led to questions about whether she avoided capital gains tax by holding the property for more than five years.
It emerged on Wednesday morning that Ms Rayner wrote to Amanda Milling, the Tory chairman, in 2021, during the Hartlepool by-election campaign, about the Tory candidate’s husband spending time in the Cayman Islands.
She wrote: “I am writing to you for the second time in a few days to raise serious concerns about the Conservative Party campaign in the Hartlepool by-election.
“It is being reported that candidate Jill Mortimer spent time living in a tax haven where her husband worked as a banker. Mrs Mortimer has already admitted that she hasn’t spent ‘a lot of time’ in Hartlepool.”
She then asked Mr and Mrs Mortimer a series of questions to answer about their finances. “Did they get any tax benefits from living there – and has she or he advised others about the tax benefits of establishing or living in the Cayman Islands?
“In the interest of transparency, will you now publish a full account of Jill Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands? Will you also order Jill Mortimer to publish her full tax returns covering that period?”
Sir Simon Clarke, the former Cabinet minister, tweeted: “Hypocrisy is the worst of political sins.”
On Tuesday, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, was forced to deny that her shadow cabinet colleague was a “tax evader”, and said she should not be treated differently to other colleagues when it comes to publishing her tax returns.
Jonathan Gullis, the Tory deputy chairman, tweeted the letter on Wednesday morning, adding: “Rachel Reeves (April 2024): Angela Rayner should NOT be treated differently to other colleagues in publishing her tax returns (April 2024).
“Angela Rayner (April 2021): ‘in the interest of transparency, will you publish her full tax returns’. same old work”
It came as Rishi Sunak pressed Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Rayner over the row over the sale of the deputy Labor leader’s council house.
The Prime Minister took aim at both as he faced questions about his handling of the William Wragg honey trap scandal.
Mr Wragg resigned as Tory shepherd voluntarily on Tuesday and Mr Sunak was asked on Wednesday morning why he did not take action against him after the MP admitted his involvement in the scandal.
Mr Sunak was told that Labor claimed its failure to remove the whip from Mr Wragg showed he was “weak”.
PM on the offensive
But the Prime Minister hit back and accused Sir Keir and Ms Rayner of failing to provide “straight answers” to the council’s business.
He told LBC: “People can judge me if they want to judge me on that. That’s fine, I accept that. On the downside, Keir Starmer still hasn’t answered any questions properly about what’s going on with Angela Rayner.
“When it comes to me and my affairs people are very happy to ask questions, including Angela Rayner herself.”
Mr Sunak continued: “Carry on. This is someone who, as far as you believe the media, is going to walk into 10 Downing Street later this year and this is the person who would be the deputy leader, the deputy prime minister of the country , and I think that is very. clear questions for her to answer about this.
“He didn’t answer them. She didn’t answer them. I think it’s reasonable that people would get a straight answer to it.”
Greater Manchester Police are considering whether to revisit the question of whether the deputy Labor leader should be liable for capital gains tax.
Ms Rayner bought her house on Vicarage Road in Stockport in 2007 using the Right to Buy scheme before making a £48,500 profit when she sold it eight years later. She was not liable to pay capital gains tax on the sale as it was her main address on the electoral roll.
However, weeks after marrying her now estranged husband Mark Rayner, in 2010 she re-registered the births of her two youngest children at her Lowndes Lane address, prompting questions about where she had moved join him.
