Starmer says he does not need to check Rayner's legal advice amid row
- Sir Keir says he does not need to check Angela Rayner’s legal advice over house
Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not need to check Angela Rayner’s legal advice about the sale of her former council house because he believes her.
The Labour leader attempted to claim that the document was similar to medical advice as he said he did not need to look at it.
He denied claims that he wanted to maintain plausible deniability if a police investigation into her living situation finds she has broken rules.
He refused to say he is ‘100 per cent confident’ in Ms Rayner, saying instead: ‘I’m pretty confident’.
When pressed why he would not say ‘100 per cent confident’ he replied: ‘Look, don’t try to play a game on this.’
Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not need to check Angela Rayner’s legal advice about the sale of her former council house because he believes her
Deputy Labour leader Ms Rayner has faced weeks of questions about the sale of her former council home.
Greater Manchester Police is investigating her over a number of claims, including that she may have broken electoral law and rules on council tax.
Ms Rayner commissioned legal advice, which she said proves she did nothing wrong. It has been read by senior Labour officials but not by Sir Keir.
Asked why he had refused to look at the document himself, Sir Keir, a former lawyer, said he did not need to because he believed her. He denied claims on ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday that it was a case of ‘see no evil, hear no evil’.
‘The question at the end is quite a straightforward question which is do you believe Angela Rayner about where she says she was living,’ he said.
‘The answer to that question from me is yes. I don’t need legal advice to tell me whether I believe Angela Rayner when she tells me where she was living.’
The Labour leader also said he would not read the document because it was personal – and compared the situation to demanding someone’s medical notes.
‘If a member of my shadow cabinet tells me that they’re off to have an operation I don’t ask to see the medical advice, I don’t ask for their medical notes,’ he said.
‘I believe her, I’ve talked to her about it. The legal advice is not going to help me on the question I’ve already answered, which is that I believe Angela Rayner.’
The Labour leader attempted to claim that the document was similar to medical advice as he said he did not need to look at it
Ms Rayner has insisted she lived at the home in Stockport, which she bought for a discount in 2007 under the Right to Buy scheme, for the entire time she owned it.
But neighbours have claimed she had actually moved in with her husband, who lived a mile away, in 2010. They say that her brother lived at the property before she sold it in 2015, shortly before she was elected to Parliament for the first time.
The row has raised questions over whether she should have paid thousands of pounds in capital gains tax on the £48,500 profit she made.
Richard Holden, the Tory chairman, said: ‘Labour are still desperately trying to cover up why Sir Keir Starmer hasn’t looked at Angela Rayner’s legal advice.
‘Either Sir Keir is worried Angela Rayner has done something wrong and is trying to distance himself from it, or he is deliberately turning a blind eye to the scandal engulfing his deputy leader.
‘Sir Keir Starmer should show some leadership, grasp the details of the scandal, or people will rightly wonder who is running the Labour Party if not him.’
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