- Angela Rayner will face Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday
Embattled Angela Rayner faces her political high noon this week as the city council feud takes top billing in Parliament.
More than two months after the Mail on Sunday first asked about her improbable living conditions, Ms Rayner will face questions from the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
A scheduling clash for Rishi Sunak means his deputy, Oliver Dowden, will take the Prime Minister’s place at lunchtime, with convention dictating that Sir Keir is also replaced by his deputy.
After a lunch break, the powerful Treasury Select Committee will question Jim Harra, director general of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), over his department’s recent attempt to shut down its customer hotline.
More than two months after the Mail on Sunday first asked about her improbable living conditions, Ms Rayner will face questions from the Prime Minister.
Lord Ashcroft called on Sir Keir to apologize for responding to Mr Sunak’s mockery by accusing “a billionaire peer” of “defaming a working class woman”.
But a source said MPs would also take the opportunity to ask him about the availability of advice on the tax they may have to pay on a right-to-buy social house which is one of two properties owned by married couples – exactly Ms. Rayner’s situation.
MPs have already called on HMRC to launch an investigation into the sale of Ms Rayner’s former council house. Treasury Committee Chair Harriett Baldwin said: “The committee is very concerned about how law-abiding taxpayers can access the help and advice they need by speaking to someone to clarify the rules so they can get their taxes done correctly. »
Tory strategists will welcome the opportunity to take digs at Ms Rayner on PMQs, in the style of last week’s Commons zinger from Mr Sunak when he advised Sir Keir to spend “more time reading the deputy leader’s tax advice.”
Lord Ashcroft, whose biography Mrs Rayner first revealed claimed to have lived apart from her husband in his right-to-buy home, demanded Sir Keir apologize for responding to the mockery by Mr Sunak by accusing “a billionaire peer”. to “smear a working class woman”. A Labor spokesperson responded: “Lord Ashcroft has more visibility than Blackpool. »
Pressure on Ms Rayner increased further last week after Greater Manchester Police said they were investigating “several allegations” against her.
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