Rayner’s former aide ‘contradicts her housing claims in police statement’

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The row over Angela Rayner’s earlier dwelling preparations has deepened as her former aide reportedly wrote to police contradicting her claims.

Former staffer Matt Finnegan stated there was “no doubt in my mind that this was Ms Rayner’s family home” when he visited her at what she says was her husband’s deal with in 2014.

Police are investigating whether or not Labour’s deputy chief broke electoral regulation after Tory allegations that she could have given false details about her important residence a decade in the past.

She was registered at a former council home she purchased in Stockport, however it’s understood Conservative Party deputy chairman James Daly has advised neighbours say she lived with her husband at a separate property.

Greater Manchester Police initially stated it could not be investigating the allegations, however following a criticism from the Bury North MP, the drive confirmed it had reassessed info and launched a probe.

Mr Finnegan left Ms Rayner’s employment with a £20,000 payout and a non-disclosure settlement after accusing her of incapacity discrimination and unfair dismissal. He has advised police he “vividly” remembers her house was elsewhere, the Sunday Times reported.

He visited her across the time she grew to become a parliamentary candidate at an deal with in Lowndes Lane, Stockport, in the summer season of 2014, in keeping with the paper.

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

“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.”

Ms Rayner has promised to resign if she is discovered to have dedicated against the law, however stated she “followed the rules at all times”.

Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the police investigation into Ms Rayner’s dwelling preparations and stated he had “full confidence” in her.

Shadow minister Jim McMahon dismissed the allegations earlier on Saturday as a “storm in a teacup” after defence secretary Grant Shapps accused Ms Rayner of “double standards”.

Ms Rayner beforehand advised that former prime minister Boris Johnson ought to resign whereas Scotland Yard probed claims of Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street, prompting requires her to step down whereas the police investigation continues.

However, Scott Wortley, a regulation lecturer at Edinburgh University, identified that any potential prosecution ought to have been launched inside a yr of the suspected crime.

Providing false info is an offence underneath Section 13D of the Representation of the People Act 1983, however the laws imposes a time restrict of a yr for bringing any cost.

Magistrates prolong that deadline in sure circumstances, however solely by one other yr, in keeping with the Act.

Mr Wortley described the police probe as “completely pointless”, saying: “Why waste money on investigating something absolutely time-barred? They would not do it for (Road Traffic Act) matters nearly a decade after it could be prosecuted.”

“It is not the role of the police to investigate something that could never be charged.”

A Labour spokesperson stated: “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.”