Police 'make contact with Angela Rayner' as Labour deputy faces a quizzing by officers over her two-homes row

Police have contacted Angela Rayner to arrange a date for officers to quiz Labour's deputy leader over her housing row, it emerged today.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP has faced weeks of scrutiny over the 2015 sale of her former council house with claims she may not have paid the right amount of tax.

It is also alleged she may have made a false declaration about where she was living on the electoral register, amid confusion about what was her principal residence.

Greater Manchester Police last month launched an investigation into the politician's past housing arrangements.

According to the Sun on Sunday, detectives leading the probe have now contacted Ms Rayner's office to arrange an interview with the politician.

The newspaper reported Labour's deputy leader is likely to be invited to attend a police station voluntarily and be interviewed under caution, rather than be arrested.

A source said: 'There is a lot of information already in the public domain so there is no need to be heavy-handed.

'The police are more interested in gathering all the information they can, and having Angela come in and speak to them.

'They will then take a view on where the investigation goes from there once they have assessed the evidence.'

Ms Rayner has vowed to 'do the right thing and step down' if she is found to have committed a crime in relation to her living situation a decade ago, during her marriage to her former husband Mark Rayner.

But she has pointed to 'expert tax and legal advice' she has received and stressed she is 'completely confident I've followed the rules at all times'. 

Ms Rayner has rejected suggestions in a book by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, which was serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, that she failed to properly declare her main home.

The unauthorised biography alleged she bought her former council house, in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, with a 25 per cent discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.

The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.

Government guidance says that a tenant can apply to buy their council home through the right-to-buy scheme if it is their 'only or main home'.

Mr Rayner, her then-husband, was listed at another address in Lowndes Lane, about a mile away, which had also been bought under the right-to-buy scheme.

In the same year as her wedding, Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children, giving her address as where her husband resided.

Ms Rayner has insisted that Vicarage Road was her 'principal property' despite her then-husband living elsewhere at the time.

But neighbours have reportedly disputed her claim that she lived apart from Mr Rayner.

A Labour spokesperson told the Sun on Sunday: 'Angela has been clear that she will cooperate with any investigation. We do not plan to give a running commentary.

'We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it's now appropriate to let the police do their work.'