Angela Rayner faces damaging fraud probe in nightmare for Labour deputy leader

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Angela Rayner is being investigated by police for alleged council tax fraud claims alongside possible electoral offences.

Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said yesterday that there were “a number of assertions knocking about” that the force would “get to the bottom of”.

Conservative deputy chairman James Daly is understood to have sent correspondence to Stockport Council about what the Labour deputy leader’s council tax arrangements were.

Mr Daly contacted police to make them aware that neighbours of Ms Rayner had contradicted her account that a property, separate from her husband’s, was her main residence.

The force, which has assigned a dozen people to the case, is said to be reviewing whether Ms Rayner claimed a single person’s council tax discount on her former council house on Vicarage Road while allowing her brother to live there.

In a letter to the council, Mr Daly reportedly asked whether, if her brother was living at the property with her, and she was claiming the 25% single-person discount, that could amount to council tax fraud, which can incur both criminal and civil penalties.

He said the single-person discount can only be claimed for someone’s sole or main residence, adding that there can only be one adult resident in the dwelling.

Alongside the council tax claims, Ms Rayner has also been accused of wrongly declaring her permanent address on the electoral register, which is an offence.

GMP launched an investigation into whether Ms Rayner had broken electoral law, having initially said she had no case to answer, following questions about whether she paid the correct amount of tax when she sold the property before becoming an MP.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told MPs today he believed the accusation that Ms Rayner lied about her primary residence to avoid tax was a “smear”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “Angela welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police. We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it’s now appropriate to let the police do its work.”