Billionaire Rishi Sunak accused of 'smearing' working-class Angela Rayner over house sale row

Keir Stamer has accused billionaire Rishi Sunak of “smearing” a working-class woman after the PM’s jibe about Angela Rayner.

The Labour leader defended his Deputy at PMQs today as Mr Sunak said he should spend more time examining Ms Rayner’s tax advice amid a row involving the sale of a council house she lived in almost a decade ago.

Greater Manchester Police announced last week it was looking into whether any offences were committed by Ms Rayner – one of Labour’s most senior figures – who has insisted she did nothing wrong.

She was accused of falsely claiming that she was living at an ex-council house she owned in Stockport when she was living at her ex-husband Mark Rayner’s house a mile down the road. Critics said she may have broken electoral law as she should not have been registered on the electoral roll if she did not live there.

Tory MPs have also questioned whether she should have paid capital gains tax of up to £1,500 when she sold the property in 2015, a cost she would have been exempt from if it was her primary residence. But Ms Rayner has repeatedly insisted it was her “principal property” despite her husband living elsewhere at the time.

As Mr Starmer ridiculed a new book by disaster ex-PM Liz Truss at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Sunak said: “All I would say is he ought to spend a bit less time reading that book and a bit more time reading the deputy leader’s (Angela Rayner) tax advice.”

After jeering from Tory MPs the Labour leader hit back saying the “billionaire PM” was “smearing a working-class woman” while his family had “used schemes to avoid millions of pounds of tax”. In 2022 it was revealed Mr Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of one of India’s richest men, had avoided tax on her overseas income through her non-dom status.

The exchange followed reports that at least a dozen police officers in Greater Manchester are examining allegations against Labour’s Deputy Leader. Ms Rayner has announced she would quit if police conclude she had committed a criminal offence – but has insisted she followed the rules “at all times”.

Rishi Sunak attempted to make a jibe about the police investigation at PMQs

GMP had previously said Ms Rayner would not face an investigation into accusations she broke electoral law by giving false information about her main residence. But the row spiralled from claims made by her former neighbours in an unauthorised biography by the billionaire former Tory peer Lord Ashcroft.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester on Tuesday GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson said there were a “number of assertions knocking about”. He said: “We, on an initial assessment, made a determination that it was unlikely that we would pursue an investigation on the provision of further investigation or further information.

“We have reassessed that decision, and we have announced that we will launch a formal investigation. That is a neutral act – it does not imply that the information gives us any hard and fast evidence upon which to base anything at this stage.

“It is simply we have an allegation. These allegations are of course all over the news. We are going to get to the bottom of what has happened.” He declined to give a timeframe for the probe, saying: “We just need to get to the bottom of the facts and then we’ll work out where we go with it.”

But in a defiant statement last week Labour’s Deputy Leader said she had followed all the rules and accused the Tories of attempting to smear her. She said: “I’ve repeatedly said I would welcome the chance to sit down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter. I am completely confident I’ve followed the rules at all times.”

Ms Rayner said she made no apology for holding the Tories to account over their tax affairs and said it was vital the matter was looked at without political interference.

She went on: “We have seen the Tory Party use this playbook before – reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their record. I will say as I did before – if I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down. The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them. The questions raised relate to a time before I was an MP and I have set out my family’s circumstances and taken expert tax and legal advice. I look forward to setting out the facts with the relevant authorities at the earliest opportunity.”