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

MissAdventure

Principles go out of the window when those who are struggling are given an opportunity.

A mortgage on my council flat was cheaper than the rent.

Exactly! IMO there was nothing wrong with offering long-term council tenants the opportunity to buy, but the proceeds should have been used for replacement of the social housing stock. I can't blame anyone for being offered something and wanting to be better off.

What it boils down to then is that to be a successful female Labour politician you must be
Well spoken
Well educated
Not have controversial opinions
Never speak your mind
Never make fun of pompous men
Never aspire to own your own house
Don’t have children out of wedlock
Meet one man, preferably nothing to do with politics, and be faithful forever regardless of his misdemeanours

Come on Angela, be more Nadine!

I'm sure GSM know the law better than I do, but my understanding is that if a couples marries and each one has a property they have a certain time (two years?) to sell it without incurring Capital Gains Tax. If they genuinely live apart (and some married couples do), they each have a CGT allowance. On the face of it (and without knowing the finer details), it does look as though Rayner might owe tax because she sold the house five years after getting married.

I don't know the law about addresses for parliamentary candidates. Did Rayner give the wrong address? Does the address have to be the main residence? What about somebody who genuinely spends their time in two different places for an equal amount of time? Does anybody here actually know what the rules are?

Principles go out of the window when those who are struggling are given an opportunity.

A mortgage on my council flat was cheaper than the rent.

No, it is way after the given time, by years.

Of course Silverlining principles go out the window when money is waved - even with Labour! So much for looking out for housing needs of others eh?

GSM, I fail to understand why it isn't a valid excuse. Is KS an expert in conveyancing law? If not it would, IMO, be inappropriate to comment without himself taking legal advice from such a lawyer. Is he a witness in Court? In which case a Judge may well say that not looking at his Deputy's tax returns was not a valid excuse. He may well have pointed AR in the direction of legal people who would have reassured her that all was well as he himself did not possess that expertise. Most decent lawyers won't give advice on areas they know sod all about.
My husband informs me that breaches of Electoral Law have to be notified within a year of the election. Does this complaint fall within that period?

eazybee you missed an important fact. You said
‘Exactly the same as when she and Starmer were seen sharing a meal with members of their team during Covid; they refused to investigate then declared there was no case to answer.’
The police did investigate and the outcome was that there was no case to answer because they had operated within the Covid rules.
It doesn’t help your argument when you distort the truth.

Council house residents, I was thinking of how much we pay in council tax as I wrote.

Had council houses not been offered as discount rates by mrs thatcher to council tax residents we woukdnt have had the lack of housing problem we have now.
I didn’t agree with it then or now, but you can’t blame those who were offered this cut price opportunity of a lifetime.

So, if she isn't guilty of a cover up, she'll be guilty of something, somewhere, somehow?

If she had stuck to her principles and not purchased her council house she wouldn’t be in this mess…just sayin!

Nothing has been proved, though.

Angela Rayner is being investigated over claims that she broke electoral law and that she may owe tax related to the sale of a council house.
She purchased the house in Vicarage Road in 2007 and was registered to vote at that address. In 2010 she married Mark Rayner, the father of her second and third sons, then aged three and two,and re-registered them at his address in Lowndes Lane,
She sold her property for £127, 000 in 2015. She would not be liable for capital gains tax if it were her principal address. Numerous pictures show her in residence at her husbands's house and as her sons were registered as living there it seems highly unlikely that she would be living separately a mile away.
The neighbours, not interviewed by police, but by many reporters, claim she had not lived in her Vicarage Road house for five years and that her brother was living there but not paying rent.
Rayner claimed to be 'a care worker who did not have an accountant at the time she sold her house,' but later admitted that she had sought 'expert tax advice', so that she didn't do anything wrong.
She has been reported to the police who at first refused to investigate, but have now been persuaded to take action.
Exactly the same as when she and Starmer were seen sharing a meal with members of their team during Covid; they refused to investigate then declared there was no case to answer.
During his interview with her Nick Robinson offered her straightforward advice : 'Simply publish the tax advice.' but for reasons best known to her and Starmer, who declared he did not need to see the tax advice, she won't do this.
All this from a woman who targets and pursues other MPs about their tax affairs. The amount is not relevant, the principle is.
She is hoist with her own petard.

Ms Rayner said if Mr Daly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt published their tax details for the last 15 years, she would do the same.

“If you show me yours, then I’ll show you mine,” she added.

If found guilty Rayner has said that she will go. So that should shut up the Tories.

And meanwhile 😀😀 yet another Tory minister has resigned.

Germanshepherdsmum

I hope justice will be done, Casdon. I believe in the old saying ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ and I also have regard to the evidential value of what her neighbours are reported to have said. If she has, as alleged, committed two criminal offences she must answer for them.

well, I would imagine that Andrew Malkinson, for one, is relieved that your legal career confined itself to property.

If Angela Rayner is found culpable she said she would resign. I woukd be sorry about that. This sale occurred over a decade ago, think before she was in politics
I assume she got proper legal advice so may have a case against those who advised her.

Those, mainly tories, who have swindled millions while in government seem to always get away with it. Funny that !

This is so obviously a Tory/Daily Mail witch-hunt. They happily ignore all the borderline lawbreakers in their own party but pick on Labour instead. I remember when they kept on at the police to investigate Starmer’s beer and curry night. They’ve also conveniently forgotten Sunak’s fine for partying at number 10. Burnham will be leader of Labour one day. My daughter worked in his private office for a while when he was Minister of Health.

I like Angela. She's one of the few politicians who seems real.

When I think of some of the fiddles that Conservative Party MP’s have taken part in I don’t remember any of them involving ex council houses. Grant Schapps is now speaking on the news…hasn’t he usedseveral names over the years?

Germanshepherdsmum do you think it’s fine for Nadhim Zahawi to still be a member of parliament?

Exactly vegansrock and MissAdventure. This is about the double standards alive and well in our political system. Mone, Zahawi, Sunak et al can cream off money with impunity, and it’s fine because they are part of the rich, privileged elite. Raynor is a working class woman who was a single mother aged 16😱 She’s fair game to the establishment. Total bloo** witch hunt!

Germanshepherdsmum

I hope justice will be done, Casdon. I believe in the old saying ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ and I also have regard to the evidential value of what her neighbours are reported to have said. If she has, as alleged, committed two criminal offences she must answer for them.

What a relief you know that you were never a criminal lawyer!

well it seems the "minister for common sense" excuse me while I laugh at that one...AND he MP husband claim over £3000 A MONTH for rent of a London flat while the flat they call home is just minutes away ...beggers belief that SOME things are legal it seems .I'd put ALL MP's in a tower block with communal facilities and security at the bottom ..save the public a fortune in dodgy rent expenses !!