Angela Rayner has accused ministers of “obsessing” over her living arrangements and urged them to focus on implementing long-promised housing reforms instead. The deputy Labour leader came out fighting at deputy prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, weeks after police opened an investigation into the sale of her council house in 2015. She opened her remarks at the dispatch box by saying: “I know the party opposite is desperate to talk about my living arrangements – but the public wants to know what they’re going to do about theirs. When will he get a grip and end no-fault evictions?” Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, and Rayner stood in at PMQs while Rishi Sunak is on a defence-focused trip to Poland and Germany. Rayner aimed a personal jibe at Dowden, who is one of Sunak’s most loyal lieutenants and helped destabilise Boris Johnson’s government by resigning as Tory chair over the double byelection losses in 2022. Dowden has reportedly been urging Sunak to call an early election. Rayner told the Commons: “Has he finally realised that when he stabbed Boris Johnson in the back to get his mate into No 10, he was switching their biggest election winner for a pint-sized loser?”
Dowden joked that Rayner would be claiming the House of Commons as her principal residence soon. The deputy Labour leader is facing questions over whether she paid the right amount of tax on the 2015 sale of her Stockport council house. There is a dispute over whether it was her principal residence at the time. “It is a pleasure to have another exchange with [Rayner] in this house, our fifth in 12 months – any more of these and she’ll be claiming it as her principal residence,” Dowden said. Later in the session, he said: “The deputy leader is always looking to attack others’ failures, but never the one to take responsibility for her own. “She once said you shouldn’t be waiting for the police to bang on your door – if you did it, then you shouldn’t be doing your job. The right honourable landlady should forget her tax advice, and follow her own advice.” Rayner has faced calls to publish the legal and tax advice she says she received, to prove she does not owe capital gains tax (CGT) of up to £1,500 on the profits of the sale of her house. Rayner has said she will publish details of her tax arrangements only if Conservative ministers publish theirs, but has promised to resign if she is found by police to have committed an offence. She warned that because of the dearth of affordable housing, “families are trapped in temporary accommodation and stuck on waiting lists”.