Greater Manchester police says it won’t take any action over Tory allegations against Angela Rayner
Greater Manchester police has said that it is not taking any further action over allegations that Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, broke the law after she bought a council home which she subsequently sold before becoming an MP.
Tories and Tory-supported papers suggested that she may have broken electoral law, by registering the wrong home as her main residence, as well as suggesting that she wrongly avoided paying capital gains tax when she sold the property. James Daly, the Tory deputy chair, complained to the police, and then insisted that they looked into it properly when they initially dismissed the allegations, even though in interviews he subsequently refused to say what he thought she had done wrong.
A spokesperson said:
Following allegations about Angela Rayner MP, Greater Manchester police has completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation. 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 (HMRC).
Key events
Rish Sunak has two young daughters, aged 9 and 11. Speaking to reporters earlier today, he said that they were more positive about his plan for compulsory national service for 18-year-olds than his plan for all pupils to study maths until they leave school. He said:
My daughters are definitely more excited than they were when I announced maths to 18. [This was a] much easier conversation than that conversation was …
I do this first and foremost as a dad, knowing that if I’m successful then my daughters will do it.
Q: What do you think of Rishi Sunak’s plan to remove responsibility for giving sick notes to workers from GPs?
Starmer says Sunak is getting desperate. He is rummaging around in the “toy box” of ideas to put proposals on the table.
He says there are “positive, sensible, grown-up” things than can be done to get people into work.
Starmer and Reeves take part in Q&A with workers at Airbus plant
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, are taking part in a Q&A at an Airbus plan in Hertfordshire. Opening the session, Starmer makes a point of saying questioners are not being vetted and anyone can ask anything.
The first question comes from someone who says he has not voted Labour before. That’s allowed, Starmer says. The questioner asks if Labour will eliminate waste in government procurement.
Starmer says he thinks the government could do more to use procurement as a means of generating growth.
Reeves is speaking now. She says Labour has committed not to increase income tax or national insurance at all.
She says she is particulary angry about the money wasted on Covid contracts. She would appoint a commissioner to get every penny back where contracts were not fulfilled.
HM Revenue and Customs also looked into Angela Rayner’s tax arrangements relating to the sale of her first home, at her request, and it is understood that no further action is being taken.
Commenting on Greater Manchester police’s announcement about Angela Rayner (see 4.10pm), a Labour party spokeperson said:
The police have now completed their investigation into claims made by the Conservative party deputy chairman and have concluded that no further action will be taken. Angela co-operated fully with the police investigation throughout.
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.
How Tories now have record of demanding police inquiries into Labour politicians resulting in no action
This is the second time a police inquiry into Labour launched at the behest of the Tories has gone nowhere.
In the so-called beergate affair, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner were accused of breaking lockdown rules after Starmer was photographed drinking beer in an office with Labour staff when they had a takeaway meal while working late during the local election campaign in 2021. Starmer and Rayner said they would resign if they were found to have done anything wrong. An inquiry by Durham police concluded that they hadn’t.
The allegations received extensive coverage, particularly in the Daily Mail, and the Conservative MP Richard Holden was particularly prominent in demanding a full investigation. He was later promoted and appointed Conservative party chair.
James Daly, the current deputy chair, was instrumental in persuading Greater Manchester police to carry out a full inquiry into the various allegations about Rayner. These allegations, also reported endlessly by the Mail, were prompted by revelations about Rayner’s living arrangements when she bought her first house published in a biography by Lord Ashcroft, who is a former Tory deputy chair. When Greater Manchester police initially decided the complaints weren’t worth investigating, Daly complained.
The Tories pushed the the beergate story when Boris Johnson was under pressure over Partygate, and they clearly wanted to imply equivalance; that lockdown rules were being ignored by people from all parties.
But the police inquiry into Partygate did lead to action. Some 83 people were fined, including Boris Johnson, the then PM, and Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor.
Greater Manchester police says it won’t take any action over Tory allegations against Angela Rayner
Greater Manchester police has said that it is not taking any further action over allegations that Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, broke the law after she bought a council home which she subsequently sold before becoming an MP.
Tories and Tory-supported papers suggested that she may have broken electoral law, by registering the wrong home as her main residence, as well as suggesting that she wrongly avoided paying capital gains tax when she sold the property. James Daly, the Tory deputy chair, complained to the police, and then insisted that they looked into it properly when they initially dismissed the allegations, even though in interviews he subsequently refused to say what he thought she had done wrong.
A spokesperson said:
Following allegations about Angela Rayner MP, Greater Manchester police has completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation. 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 (HMRC).
David Cameron is probably the best political salesman in the Conservative party and he gave a good example of why in an interview a few minutes ago. To promote his “triple lock plus” policy, Rishi Sunak has said that, because Labour is not implementing it, that means under Labour pensioners would pay more tax. (See 8.34am.) Cameron expressed the same idea more slickly; he claimed under Labour pensioners would face a “retirement tax”. He said:
In the end elections are not a referendum on the government. They’re a choice, and you can see a real choice opening up: of keeping the pension out of tax with the Conservatives or a retirement tax with Labour; an exciting plan for national service to bring the country together under the Conservatives, no plans under Keir Starmer.
A claim like this can be very effective. Labour backed away from the “death tax” after the Tories attacked the concept (a tax on estates to pay for social care) before the 2010 election, and Theresa May lost her majority in 2017 after proposing what Labour called the “dementia tax” (higher care costs).
Cameron’s phrase won’t have the same impact because Labour is not, in fact, proposing any retirement tax. Not implementing a notional tax cut (about which voters are likely to be sceptical anyway) is different from proposing an actual tax increase. But that may not stop Cameron’s phrase making some headlines in the pro-Tory papers anyway.
Rishi Sunak has said that the announcement of his party’s proposed “triple lock plus” (see 8.34am) presents voters with a choice. He said: “What I believe is if you work hard all your life you should have dignity in retirement.” He said that his policy would amount to a tax cut worth around £100 for pensioners, and that under Labour “pensioners will be paying tax”.
David Cameron, the foreign secretary and former PM, has been campaigning for his party today. Here is is visiting the Fed, a social care charity in Manchester. He is with James Daly, the Tory deputy chair and MP for Bury North.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has admitted that he deliberately fell off his paddleboard, at least the first time, during his Windermere photocall this morning (see 12.33pm), Sky News reports.
BBC presenter apologises after saying Farage used inflammatory language
A BBC News presenter has apologised after she accused Nigel Farage of using “customary inflammatory language”, PA Media reports. PA says:
Geeta Guru-Murthy made the comment after a clip of Farage speaking at a Reform UK event in Dover was shown on BBC News, before later apologising and saying this “didn’t meet the BBC’s editorial standards on impartiality”.
Farage, Reform’s honorary president, said he was quoting the Polish prime minister Donald Tusk when he said “aggressive young males” were coming into Poland.
Live on air, Guru-Murthy said: “Earlier today we heard live from Nigel Farage, speaking at that election event we just saw.
“When we came away from his live speech, I used language to describe it which didn’t meet the BBC’s editorial standards on impartiality. I’d like to apologise to Mr Farage and viewers for this.”
In a post on X, Farage tagged Guru-Murthy and asked: “What happened to impartiality?”
Lee Anderson, the former Tory MP who defected to Reform UK, responded by saying the BBC licence fee should be abolished.
Here is Jessica Elgot’s story about Rachel Reeves’ comments about tax policy this morning.
And here is Ben Quinn’s take.
A ming vase in triple bubble wrap..
The “ming vase strategy” is a term used to mean a no-risk approach to winning an election, which comes from Roy Jenkins saying that Tony Blair before 1997 was acting like a man carrying a ming vase across a polished floor.
(It is normally assumed that Jenkins used the phrase as a compliment, but I’m not sure that’s entirely right. Later he was disappointed that Blair was not more radical on constitutional reform.)
Reeves says ‘no additonal tax rises needed’ to implement Labour’s plans beyond what party has already proposed
During her Q&A this morning Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said she did not think Labour would need to raise taxes beyond the ones already announced by the party (like the more substantial windfall tax on firms and VAT on school fees). (See 10.52am.)
In response to a question about whether further tax rises might be needed, she replied:
In terms of your question around taxes, there are no additional tax rises needed beyond the ones that I’ve set out. We would extend windfall tax on the profits that energy companies are making and use that to endow a national wealth fund to invest in the low-carbon energy industries of the future …
We would put the VAT and business rates on private schools to fund that investment of 6,500 teachers.
We’d crack down on tax avoidance and ensure that non-doms pay their fair share of tax by including trusts in a way that the Conservatives haven’t in their plans for non-dom taxation. And we’d use that money to fund breakfast clubs in primary schools, as well as our commitments around 40,000 additional appointments in the NHS and the emergency dental appointments as well.
And also we’re committed to ensuring that taxes on private equity bonuses are taxed appropriately.
Those are the some of the tax changes that we will be bringing in because that is what is needed to fund the pledges that we have made.
This is very similar to what Keir Starmer said yesterday. But Jim Pickard from the Financial Times says this goes beyond what Reeves herself said on taxation in her interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday.
at the weekend Rachel Reeves ruled out increases to income tax or National Insurance under a Labour government:
today she has gone much further by saying:
“there are no additional tax rises needed beyond the ones that I’ve said”
— Jim Pickard
(@PickardJE) May 28, 2024
at the weekend Rachel Reeves ruled out increases to income tax or National Insurance under a Labour government:
today she has gone much further by saying:
“there are no additional tax rises needed beyond the ones that I’ve said”
Lyn Brown, the Labour MP for West Ham in London and shadow minister for Africa, says she is standing down. An MP since 2005, she says she has health problems which have persuaded her it is time to quit.
I have loved being the MP for West Ham and I love it still. Standing down will be such a huge wrench. But, given the challenges we have in Newham and the health challenges I’ve faced this year, I think we need new Labour MPs to take us forward with a Labour Government. pic.twitter.com/I0mJ9TIbrX
— Lyn Brown
(@lynbrownmp) May 28, 2024
I have loved being the MP for West Ham and I love it still. Standing down will be such a huge wrench. But, given the challenges we have in Newham and the health challenges I’ve faced this year, I think we need new Labour MPs to take us forward with a Labour Government.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, seems to be gently mocking his boss.
Hunt may have intended this as a sympathy/solidarity tweet. But it is hard not to notice that, unlike the PM when he was announcing the election outside No 10, a) Hunt is dressed for the weather, and b) he has brought an umbrella.
BBC names Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg as joint hosts of its election night coverage
Jim Waterson
Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg have been named as the joint hosts of the BBC’s election night TV coverage, taking over from Huw Edwards.
It is unclear which of the pair will have the task of unveiling the 10pm exit poll and calling the result, a moment which will be replayed for decades.
Having joint anchors will be a break with BBC tradition. The corporation’s general election coverage was helmed by David Dimbleby for every election between 1979 and 2017, before Edwards took over for 2019.
There has been intense lobbying behind the scenes over the job ever since Edwards took leave from the BBC last summer. He finally quit the corporation last month, following stories in the Sun about his texts to a young man, leaving the way for the BBC to formally appoint a replacement.
They will be joined in the BBC’s London studio by BBC political editor Chris Mason and Reeta Chakrabarti. Jeremy Vine will be hosting the BBC’s swingometer from a studio in Cardiff, while Kirsty Wark in Glasgow, and Andrea Catherwood in Belfast will provide coverage from devolved nations.
The BBC also confirmed that it is planning a series of one-on-one leaders’ interviews with Today programme host Nick Robinson. It has also invited the leaders of the seven biggest political parties to a series of debates – although Keir Starmer has already indicated he will only take part in a head-to-head with Rishi Sunak.
Swinney challenges Sunak and Starmer to recognise Palestine, saying SNP will force Commons vote on issue if they refuse
Libby Brooks
The SNP leader John Swinney has written to Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer calling on them to “immediately” recognise the state of Palestine.
He said the SNP would force a binding vote at Westminster after the general election if they failed to do so.
In his letter, Scotland’s first minister wrote:
I urge you both to belatedly do the right thing and pledge to immediately recognise Palestine as a state in its own right.
If you will not immediately commit to doing so, I can confirm that SNP MPs will bring forward a binding vote in the House of Commons at the first possible opportunity after the general election.
Swinney also said the SNP had been a “moral compass” on Gaza at Westminster.
While it’s worth remembering that Swinney called for an immediate ceasefire in his first ministerial acceptance speech earlier this month, all things must now be viewed through the prism of the general election. His predecessor Humza Yousaf’s stance on Gaza – as well as his own in-laws’ plight trapped under Israeli bombardment – was one that garnered him respect and sympathy from voters.
In February, the SNP hoped to force another Labour rebellion when it tabled a Common motion calling for a ceasefire. This was stymied by speaker Lindsey Hoyle, resulting in an almighty row and walk-out by the nationalists and Tories. Given that Gaza continues to cause problems for Labour on the doorstep, it’s interesting to see Swinney making this move early in the campaign.
Severin Carrell
The Scottish National party candidate competing to hold Lothian East, a seat the party won from Labour in 2019, has suddenly stepped down without any clear explanation.
Iain Whyte, who has spent his career inside the SNP, including in government, deleted all his social media accounts over the weekend and has been very quickly replaced by Lyn Jardine, a local councillor, the Record reported.
Douglas Alexander, who served as UK transport secretary and international development secretary while MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, is widely expected to regain the seat for Labour. One of the party’s most experienced candidates, he has been tipped for a return to government if Labour wins.
George Kerevan, who won the seat then known as East Lothian for the SNP in 2015 and who is now standing there for Alex Salmond’s breakaway nationalist party Alba, said it was unclear why Whyte had stood down. “Everyone is scratching their heads,” he said.
Whyte worked for Kerevan in the 2015 and 2017 general election campaigns, had been a special adviser to former SNP minister Paul Wheelhouse, and his nomination for the seat had been supported by Nicola Sturgeon in person, Kerevan said.
On paper, the SNP is defending Lothian East because it retook the seat from Labour in 2019 with a 3,886 vote majority. But its then MP, Kenny Macaskill, defected to Alba in 2021, and he has since switched to fight the newly-formed seat of Alloa and Grangemouth.
Jardine said in a statement:
Iain continues to be an extremely valued member of Team SNP in East Lothian and has been for a decade or more.
While I am still adjusting to the fact I’m now the candidate, I can’t wait to bring my own energy and commitment to our local communities to the campaign for Westminster.
This is an opportunity to build on my reputation as a local public servant and demonstrate how I will put the people of East Lothian first as their SNP MP at Westminster.
