ANGELA Rayner has tonight said she will QUIT as deputy Labour leader if found to have committed a crime.
Police today opened an investigation into claims she broke electoral law over her council house.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner[/caption]
Greater Manchester detectives said the threshold had been met to open an official probe after reassessing claims about her former living arrangements.
The saga surrounding her official address in the 2010s has sparked separate questions about her tax affairs, which is not a police matter.
Staking her political career on the probe, Ms Rayner tonight said: “I will say as I did before – if I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down.
“The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them.”
She previously made the commitment along with Sir Keir Starmer during the “Beergate” lockdown probe, where they were both cleared.
Ms Rayner said she “welcomes” the chance to set the record straight, while Sir Keir gave her his “full confidence”.
But she has faced calls to resign now after calling on then PM Mr Johnson to quit while under investigation during Partygate.
In a 2022 tweet that has now sparked “hypocrisy” charges, Ms Rayner said: “Boris Johnson’s Downing Street is under police investigation, how on earth can he think he can stay on as Prime Minister?”
Former Cabinet Minister Jake Berry asked: “How on earth can Angela Rayner stay on now she’s under police investigation? Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”
Tory MP Paul Bristow told The Sun: “If Angela Rayner applied the same standards she set for Boris Johnson to herself, then she would step aside until this matter is cleared up.
“She needs to do the decent thing and publish the tax advice to be as open and transparent as possible.”
Even Sir Keir last night refused three times to say if Ms Rayner should quit if she is found to have broken the law.
He told ITV: “She’s given answers on the issue many, many times over, she’s clearly said she’ll co-operate with the police.
“I do think now is the time to let the police get on with their investigation, get on with the work they need to do, she’ll co-operate with that which is exactly what you’d expect of her.”
Ms Rayner has been dogged by claims of wrongdoing – which she denies – since February when questions emerged over her living arrangements.
One of the accusations is that she gave false information stating she lived in her own former council house rather than at a different property with her then husband.
Police had said Labour’s deputy would not face a probe into whether she gave false information about her main residence on official documents.
But after a complaint by deputy Tory party chairman James Daly, they reviewed the case and last night announced they would reopen the investigation.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We’re investigating whether any offences have been committed.
“This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly.”
It is understood the Tory MP told cops about neighbours contradicting Ms Rayner’s statement that a property, separate from her then husband’s, was her main residency.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Angela welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police.
“We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it’s now appropriate to let the police do its work.”
Ms Rayner is also facing scrutiny over claims she may have wrongly avoided capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her home.
But the police’s investigation is separate as it will look into whether she registered the wrong property on the electoral roll.
This is because the question of whether she has broken tax rules would be a matter for the tax office, rather than the cops.
How Rayner's council house row could turn into proper headache for Labour
BY MARTINA BET, Political Correspondent
WORDS matter in politics – because they can come back to bite you.
Angela Rayner once questioned how Boris Johnson could stay on as PM while the Downing Street he led was under police investigation.
Two years on and it is the Labour deputy leader who now faces a cop probe over her council house saga.
And try as they might to dismiss the allegations as a Tory smear story, the row has all the ingredients to turn into a proper headache for the party.
She will now inevitably face the same calls to quit as the ones she so readily levelled during Partygate.
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly promised to clean up politics. Critics will say Ms Rayner’s tax saga undermines that pledge.
Labour says Rayner “welcomes” the chance to settle the matter via the police investigation.
But she and her allies have so far tried every trick in the book to make the story go away – decrying allegations as sexist, classist and even because she is “northern”.
Even yesterday a rattled Starmer berated a journalist for daring to ask him about it.
It may well turn out Rayner is completely innocent – but the scrutiny on Labour is only going to increase as the election looms.
