Angela Rayner admits shoplifting in younger years as she reveals 'shame' of police probe
Deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner also discussed the recently concluded investigation by HMRC.
Angela Rayner has admitted to shoplifting once while under the age of 16 on the same day Labour announced a crackdown on antisocial behaviour.
Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy admitted she has never been in trouble with the law.
Police said they would take no further action following an investigation into the sale of her former council house
The Labour frontbencher had faced claims she may have broken electoral law and dodged capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her Stockport property because of the way she and her then-husband used separate homes.
Ms Rayner said: “I was confident that I had not done anything wrong. The estate I grew up on was quite a rough estate. That's quite a thing for a working class person to have the police onto you. It taints you. It's like, gosh, you know, am I a bad person?
“And then people think, oh, she's up to no good. I'm not. That was difficult because I've always tried to do the right thing. I've never been in trouble with the law. So I might have been before 16. I did shoplift once.”
The police investigating Ms Rayner’s housing saga said matters involving tax did not fall within their jurisdiction but they had shared information with Stockport Council and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Stockport Council said it had reviewed the information and also concluded that no further action will be taken.
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HMRC would not comment on an individual’s tax affairs but it is understood they had already looked into the matter at Ms Rayner’s request and concluded there was no capital gains tax liability.
Meanwhile shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper announced Labour would put 13,000 more police and police community support officers (PCSOs) back into communities, a move she said was “fully funded and costed”.
Ms Coopersaid the cost of up to £400 million would be funded by a crackdown on duplication and bureaucracy in the fragmented system of police procurement across the 43 force in England and Wales.
