Angela Rayner faced accusations of “hypocrisy” after it emerged she demanded a Tory candidate publish their tax returns as the Labour frontbencher now refuses to publish the tax advice she received on the sale of her council house.
The Labour deputy leader is refusing to publish the advice she received relating to the sale of the property a decade ago amid scrutiny of her living arrangements.
Senior Tory figures have now highlighted a letter Ms Rayner sent to Amanda Milling, the then Conservative chairman, in April 2021 in which she suggested the party’s Hartlepool by-election candidate should “publish in full her tax returns”.
Sir Simon Clarke, the former Cabinet minister, tweeted that “hypocrisy is the worst of political sins” while Jonathan Gullis, the Tory deputy chairman, said it was evidence of the “same old Labour”.
It was suggested to Ms Rayner during a BBC interview in March that she could clear up questions about the house sale row by publishing the advice she had received.
Asked why she would not publish it, she said: “Because I don’t need to publish all of my details.”