The matter of Angela Rayner's house sale isn't going away.....

The police are investigating the alleged breaking of electoral law, not the tax issues, which are HMRC's responsibility.

The electoral issue is out of time because it should have been investigated within 12 months of the alleged irregularity.

Whoever is behind this is quite clever because it will hang over Rayner's head in the run up to the general election. Undoubtedly, the smears and exaggerations about what she has (or hasn't) done will continue until the case has been heard. That will have the effect of silencing Rayner because every time she says anything about anything the smearers will be waiting and watching with their trolling.

does David Lammy hate his wife?

If crimes have been committed that is not trivial. If tax evasion has taken place it’s a serious matter, no matter the amount involved. You need to separate crimes from ‘misdeeds’, and tax avoidance from tax evasion.

The Rayner issue is trivial witch hunting by the Tory media when compared with a whole raft of misdeeds by Tory MPs including massive underpayment of tax, lockdown parties at No. 10, cash for Parliamentary lobbying, etc. Shows how desperate the Tories are.

I must look up the definition of ‘asset’ …

Primrose53

If Rayner had kept her big mouth shut instead of calling for people to be investigated and forced to resign, she would not be in this position now. It’s her own fault she is being investigated.

If Rayner kept her big mouth shut, she wouldn't be the asset to the Labour Party that she is.

Laws have not been broken Wyllow.

Quote Germanshepherdsmum Sat 13-Apr-24 10:00:56
In his position, and bearing in mind his profession, he should not be accepting her word. He cannot defend her when asked questions on the basis of what she told him. He cannot defend her without being in full possession of all the facts - not her version of them - and having appropriate advice on both issues.

Why should he not choose what he says to the press ?

GSM: - Scott Benton - www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13132613/Ex-Tory-MP-Scott-Benton-suspended-Commons-role-lobbying-sting-setting-election-headache-Rishi-Sunak.html
reportedly offered to lobby ministers on behalf of the gambling industry and leak a confidential policy document for up to £4,000 a month)

Mark Prichard - www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/mark-pritchard-mp-north-macedonia-ats-group-arms-weapons-serbia-bribery-arrest-shefshet-demirovski/
( earns £900 per hour from dodgy arms dealing company)

In his position, and bearing in mind his profession, he should not be accepting her word. He cannot defend her when asked questions on the basis of what she told him. He cannot defend her without being in full possession of all the facts - not her version of them - and having appropriate advice on both issues.

Starmer accepts the word of a colleague not the word of a tory !

It’s not a non-story. But she is doing herself no favours by insisting she took advice yet refusing to disclose it. I can’t see how Starmer can defend her without having seen the alleged advice. I am beginning to think it doesn’t exist.

Yes Lovetopaint, I agree. The Tories and their puppet press will have been digging for Labour ‘sleaze’ for some time. If this non-story is the best they can come up with … 👍

Primrose53 yes, of course she should know her place, doff her cap, and let the Eton big boys continue with their corruption. Who does she think she is to call them out😱 Her own fault - talk about victim blaming!

If Rayner had kept her big mouth shut instead of calling for people to be investigated and forced to resign, she would not be in this position now. It’s her own fault she is being investigated.

I can scarcely believe what I'm reading here. That David Lammy and Diane Abbott dislike white people in this country.

What all of them?

Haven't we moved on from this?

When this comes up I just think how desperate the Tories are that having shovelled like mad all they can find is a mere £1,500 which may or may not have been paid ten years ago. In fact they must have been shaking their heads in despair while saying “let’s give it a go after all it’s all we have”. Then the Tory press helped with their selective investigations and their just as desperate need to fill their pages. Never mind the Tories who couldn’t resist filling their pockets let’s divert attention to a previously working class woman who may or may not have mistakenly or not paid out a sum so small that it wouldn’t have been noticed in the questionable loans, extravagant spending etc that have pervaded this government’s term in office.

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 13-Apr-24 08:57:52
As I have already said, I would like to know why she refuses to publish the advice she claims to have received, and has not even shown it to Starmer. Should he not be demanding to see it?

Why demand it ? he believes her. Why publish? She chooses not to.

Which law breakers do you have in mind, and which laws have they broken?

Thanks TinSoldier - measured and articulate as always. The Tories and their client media are making themselves look even more desperate by hounding AR. As you say, the issues concerned are not worthy of investigation but, bullied by the Tories, the police are now wasting time on this … yet again. At least a police investigation will draw a line under it once and for all. AR has said she’ll step down if she is found to have broken the law. Any of the many Tory law breakers want to do the same … No??? Didn’t think so

Whoever acted for her when she sold the council house would probably not have asked whether it was her principal residence. We don’t know that she used a solicitor. It’s quite usual for terms and conditions to state that the work to be carried out relates only to the sale and does not encompass tax advice.

Iam64

*do you really want these people in government when they really dislike the white majority in this country*.
What a nasty world view you regularly share with us Freya5. Distorted, tribal and imo just wrong.

Have you heard him speak, well I have, and Abbot.
Not tribal, whatever that is, surely some immigrants are more tribal, as you so succinctly put it. I get on very well with my two immigrant neighbours, oh and my African heritage brother in law, thank you very much. Typical left wing response to someone who doesn't agree with your point of view. Good bye.

Wyllow3

Excellent article, puts it all in perspective. if she has made a mistake
She’s also facing questions over whether she owes capital gains tax over the sale of her old council house back in 2015. Rayner swears not, insisting she has taken independent advice that confirms she doesn’t owe a penny.

Even if that advice somehow turns out to be wrong, then the sum involved – maybe £1,500 at most – is peanuts compared with the reportedly seven-figure sum that the former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi had to repay in his dispute with HMRC, or the fortune that the former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft (whose biography of Rayner started this hare running) must have saved during his years as a non-dom"

Why would she have needed to take advice
She would have been dealing with her solicitor who would have asked her if this was her place of residence.
I have sold several rental properties where this point is always been pointed out.
IMO the only time you need advice 😉 is if you want to find a way round not paying the tax.

As I have already said, I would like to know why she refuses to publish the advice she claims to have received, and has not even shown it to Starmer. Should he not be demanding to see it?

Just to confirm, I loathe the right to buy system. We need more social housing with affordable rents and security for tenants
I don’t blame tenants, including Angels Raynor for taking advantage of the scheme but I’d like to see it ended