Angela Rayner cleared of criminal wrongdoing over sale of home

Angela Rayner has been cleared of any potential criminal wrongdoing over claims she avoided tax over the sale of a home, with Greater Manchester police saying it would take no action against the Labour deputy leader.

In a statement, the force said any claims she avoided capital gains tax or council tax would not fall under their jurisdiction, and that they had shared details of their investigation with the local council, Stockport, and HMRC. Neither of these plan to take action either.

Rayner had said she would resign as deputy leader if it was found she had avoided tax when she sold the former council home she owned for a profit in 2015. The Conservatives had pressured police to look into claims that she had wrongly designated the home as her principal residence.

“Following allegations about Angela Rayner MP, Greater Manchester police has completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation,” a spokesperson for the police force said. “We have concluded that no further police action will be taken.

“The investigation originated from complaints made by Mr James Daly MP directly to GMP. Subsequent further contact with GMP by members of the public, and claims made by individuals featured in media reporting, indicated a strong public interest in the need for allegations to be investigated.

“Matters involving council tax and personal tax do not fall into the jurisdiction of policing. GMP has liaised with Stockport council and information about our investigation has been shared with them. Details of our investigation have also been shared with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.”

It is understood that HMRC also looked into the issue at the request of Rayner, and have confirmed there is no capital gains tax liability, meaning no action will be taken.

A spokesperson for Stockport council said it had “reviewed and responded to all correspondence relating to this matter”, including from police, adding: “We have also concluded that no further action will be taken on behalf of the council.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “Angela has always been clear that she was not liable for capital gains tax on the sale of the home she owned before she was an MP, that she was properly registered to vote, and paid the appropriate council tax. She took expert tax and legal advice which confirms this. This draws a line under the matter.”

Allegations about the sale of the house were first made in a book by the former Tory deputy chair Lord Ashcroft.

In 2007, before Rayner was an MP and was a council care worker and union official, she bought the £79,000 property using the right-to-buy scheme first brought in by Margaret Thatcher in 1979, getting a 25% discount off the property’s asking price.

Already a mother, a year later Rayner had a second child, with her then-partner Mark Rayner, a Unison official. He already owned a home about a mile away.

Their son was born prematurely and spent eight months in intensive care. The couple kept their separate properties during this period. In 2010, they were married, a year after having their second child.

In March 2015, Rayner sold her home for £127,500, making a profit of £48,500. Because it was designated as her main residence, the profit was not liable for capital gains tax. The allegation by some Conservatives was this was misleading, as she primarily lived at her then-husband’s address.

Married couples who both have individual properties can only have one main residence between them under tax law.

When reports about her property first emerged Rayner tweeted: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”

In an interview with the Guardian earlier this month, Stephen Watson, chief constable of Greater Manchester police, indicated that it was by no means certain that the investigation would reach the stage of being sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Asked if the investigation would end up with a file going to the CPS , Watson said: “Not necessarily. Depends what comes out of the investigation … We’ll see where it ends up.”