Angela Rayner row explodes as it’s claimed police are probing ‘multiple allegations’

Labour’s Angela Rayner woes have once again exploded this evening, as it’s claimed the police are investigating multiple allegations against the beleaguered deputy leader.

Until this evening, it was thought that Greater Manchester Police were merely looking into whether Ms Rayner broke electoral law with a false declaration about where she was living on the electoral register.

However it’s reported tonight that at least a dozen officers are probing a number of allegations, not just electoral law breaches.

The Times reports that officers are examining tax matters and “other issues on top of” the questions about her electoral role registration.

A source told the paper: “It’s very well resourced, it’s not a single issue. There is a volume of material and a clear public interest to fully investigate.”

Today, the Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “There are a number of assertions knocking about”.

“We are going to get to the bottom of what has happened.”

An upcoming biography about Ms Rayner, by Lord Ashcroft, claimed that Ms Rayner bought a council house on Vicarage Road for £79,000 in January 2007.

She paid bills and council tax, and was registered to vote at the address.

If it was her primary residence she would have been exempt from Capital Gains Tax when she sold it in 2015 for £127,000.

However contrary claims suggest was in fact living with her then-husband Mark Rayner a mile away on Lowndes Lane, which would then undermine her primary residence claim.

Neighbours have accused Ms Rayner of lying about where she lived, and at the weekend, a former aide to Ms Rayner gave a statement to Manchester Police contradicting her claims.

Matt Finnegan said: “There was no doubt in my mind that this was Ms Rayner’s family home, where she lived with her then-husband, Mark”.

“I remember it quite vividly because Ms Rayner was not at home at first and I had to wait for some time in my car before she eventually arrived.

“It was also memorable in that it was the first and only time I visited her home during the course of my voluntary work for her.”

Yesterday, the GMP assistant chief constable chaired a “gold group” meeting at the force’s HQ to develop a strategy for the investigation.

Last Friday, Ms Rayner finally said she will resign as Labour deputy leader if found to have committed a crime.

For weeks, Labour were criticised for refusing to hold themselves to the same standards they had previously demanded of Tory politicians.

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy also argued that Labour shouldn’t be held to the same standard as Rishi Sunak because they are not yet in Government.

Repeating their statement at the weekend, a Labour spokesman said: “Angela has always made clear she also spent time at her husband’s property when they had children and got married as he did at hers. The house she owned remained her main home. Angela looks forward to sitting down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter”.