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

(594 Posts)
LovesBach Fri 12-Apr-24 14:58:54

Angela Rayner is now to be investigated for breaking electoral law. It seems she has said that she married, and then lived in her ex council house for the next four years, while her husband lived in his nearby ex council house with her brother. Neighbours at her address said that her brother lived in her house alone, and that he referred to her as his landlady. This issue seems to be getting bigger by the day - surely electoral rolls show where people are registered to vote, and this should clarify the matter.

silverlining48 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:04:12

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 !

HousePlantQueen Fri 12-Apr-24 19:08:44

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.

Whitewavemark2 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:09:16

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.

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:17:02

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.

eazybee Fri 12-Apr-24 19:17:32

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.

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:18:59

Nothing has been proved, though.

Pantglas2 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:21:26

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

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:23:37

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

silverlining48 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:24:45

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.

silverlining48 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:26:33

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

Casdon Fri 12-Apr-24 19:27:36

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.

Devorgilla Fri 12-Apr-24 19:28:11

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?

Pantglas2 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:29:58

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?

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:30:00

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

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:31:41

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.

growstuff Fri 12-Apr-24 19:34:09

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?

Casdon Fri 12-Apr-24 19:36:05

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!

growstuff Fri 12-Apr-24 19:36:17

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.

Visgir1 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:37:28

For someone who endlessly bangs on about Thatcher and the Tories, but she's benefits from a discounted council house. Now she is exposed for allegedly avoiding capital gains tax and after being outed by her former 84 year old neighbour.

growstuff Fri 12-Apr-24 19:37:38

Casdon

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 not sure Nadine would qualify. hmm How about somebody like Victoria Atkins?

growstuff Fri 12-Apr-24 19:38:38

Visgir1

For someone who endlessly bangs on about Thatcher and the Tories, but she's benefits from a discounted council house. Now she is exposed for allegedly avoiding capital gains tax and after being outed by her former 84 year old neighbour.

Why shouldn't she benefit? She's not a martyr. She was offered something and she grabbed the opportunity.

zakouma66 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:38:39

Laughing now at the idea that she shouldn't have bought a council house.

Really that's hilarious. She should have stuck to her principals and moved herself and her family into a tent perhaps?

Where were Johnson's principals when he was having parties while people were dying?

Pantglas2 Fri 12-Apr-24 19:38:45

Exactly what Thatcher knew Miss Adventure!

However, Angela Rayner is on record wanting to stop Right to Buy in England and that’s the bit that sticks in folks craw - she had a principle until it suited her not to have one but now she’s got it back again…

MissAdventure Fri 12-Apr-24 19:38:55

That is what I presumed would happen with money raised.

All I knew was that it was difficult to manage on one wage, week in and week out, and I was almost sinking.

It was a lifeline

growstuff Fri 12-Apr-24 19:39:07

Visgir1

For someone who endlessly bangs on about Thatcher and the Tories, but she's benefits from a discounted council house. Now she is exposed for allegedly avoiding capital gains tax and after being outed by her former 84 year old neighbour.

"allegedly"