Why are the Conservatives making such a splash about Angela Rayner selling her council house?

Angela Rayner has faced questions over the past two weeks over whether she was subject to capital gains tax (CGT) on the sale of her former council house before she became a councilor.

The deputy leader of the Labor Party said there was no answer and dismissed a series of reports in the Mail on Sunday based on claims in a book by former Conservative Party deputy leader Lord Ashcroft as “constant slander” “.

But she is under pressure to explain her personal finances after a series of newspaper reports suggested she still had questions to answer.

What is the background of the story?

Rayner lived in a council-rented property and later moved to a property in Vicarage Road, Stockport. It’s unclear when she moved there.

The £79,000 property was bought in January 2007 by a mother who was then working as a local council carer and trade union official in Unison, using the right-to-buy scheme first introduced by Margaret Thatcher in 1979. real estate.

Through the scheme, she received a 25% discount on the asking price of the property, equivalent to £26,000.

A year after buying her first home, Rayner gave birth to her second child, her first with her then-partner, Unison officer Mark Rayner. He already owned a house about a mile away on Lowndes Lane.

Their son was born prematurely at 23 weeks and spent eight months in intensive care. Reyna said she will need the continued support of her wide network of friends and family during this time, including her brother.

The couple decided to keep their respective properties in the meantime. It’s unclear which property is her primary residence or whether they live separately. In 2010, the two married a year after giving birth to their second child.

Rayner has been on the local electoral roll for the eight years he has owned the Vicarage Road property. She was not registered to vote elsewhere and did not rent the property during this period.

In March 2015, Rayner sold his house for £127,500, making a profit of £48,500. At this time she was registered at this address on the electoral roll until her husband sold their house in 2016.

What problems is she facing now?

Homeowners must pay capital gains tax after selling a home that has gained value, but it is exempt if it is their primary, full-time residence. Substantial renovation costs can also be deducted from a homeowner’s capital gains tax bill.

Under tax law, a married couple where both parties own separate property can only have one primary residence.

When reports about her property first emerged, Renner tweeted: “Like most regular people selling their homes, I don’t have to pay capital gains tax because it’s my home and the only one I own. Owned house.”

Sources close to her said her posts on

According to Ashcroft’s unofficial biography, Raina re-registered her two sons with Mark at her husband’s home in 2010. It’s unclear what previous address was listed on their birth certificates.

As a result of these reports, Raina is facing questions about where she lived for the first five years of her marriage, since under election rules voters are supposed to register at their permanent address and could face penalties for providing false information.

Tax expert Dan Neidle said: “Mark and Angela either designate her property as their joint principal residence, so he (Mark) is required to pay taxes and she is not. Or, on hers, There is a lot of construction work going on on the property.

“I don’t think it’s a huge problem, I don’t think there’s much tax to pay and I don’t feel comfortable with forcing MPs to reveal personal financial information.

“But given that the matter has entered the public domain, it seems prudent for her to provide information, otherwise people’s imaginations will conjure up a scenario far worse than reality.”

The reports also raised questions about Renner’s purchase of his own home under right-to-buy rules, which state that state tenants can only apply to buy their council house if it is their “only or principal residence.”

Does this hurt Reina?

Rayner explained in part her family’s situation and said she had taken expert tax and legal advice, but it was unclear exactly when, which told her she would not have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of the Vicarage Road home.

Keir Starmer backed his deputy, saying he had “full confidence in all the answers she has given on tax matters”.

Tory MPs have already accused Rayner of being “grossly hypocritical” for wanting to reform Margaret Thatcher’s flagship policy because she “personally benefited from the right-to-buy discount”.

Conservative sources said they believed there was evidence of potential wrongdoing and planned to continue asking awkward questions ahead of the election, believing they had identified a weak spot.