Dramatic intervention by Labour Deputy's ex-adviser piles even more pressure on ... trends now

Angela Rayner was last night facing mounting pressure over her 'two homes' row after one of her former aides told police that she had not told the truth about her real 'home'.

Matt Finnegan, Ms Rayner's former chief adviser, has given a statement to Greater Manchester Police in which he states that her actual home was with her then husband – not at the former council house where she was registered on the electoral roll.

The testimony is the latest evidence to shatter the insistence by Labour's deputy leader that she has not broken any rules.

Police announced on Friday that they are investigating claims – first published in The Mail on Sunday – that Ms Rayner breached electoral law by registering a former right-to-buy council house in Vicarage Road, Stockport, as her home, rather than a nearby property in Lowndes Lane, occupied by her then husband and three children.

She did so for five years after the couple married.

Ms Rayner responded to the police statement by saying that she would step down if she is found to have committed a criminal offence.

Mr Finnegan has told the police that he visited Ms Rayner in Lowndes Lane in the summer of 2014 – around the time she became a parliamentary candidate.

In his statement, he said: 'There was no doubt in my mind that this was Ms Rayner's family home, where she lived with her then husband, Mark.'

His letter to police, quoted by The Sunday Times, adds: 'I remember it quite vividly because Ms Rayner was not at home at first and I had to wait for some time in my car before she eventually arrived. It was also memorable in that it was the first and only time I visited her home during the course of my voluntary work for her.'

Greater Manchester Police will hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss a strategy for their investigation.

In addition to the electoral law issue, the saga has also raised separate, non-criminal issues of tax liability – because married couples have to nominate one property as their main residence.

If Ms Rayner had been living in Lowndes Lane this would have rendered her Vicarage Road property liable for capital gains tax when she sold it nine years ago, making a profit of £48,500.

Experts believe that she could be liable for an HMRC bill of up to £3,500.

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

Last night, sources close to Ms Rayner tried to cast doubt on Mr Finnegan's credibility as a witness.

A Labour spokesman said: 'Angela has always made it clear that she also spent time at her husband's property when they had children and got married, as he did at hers.

'The house she owned remained her main home. Angela looks forward to sitting down with the appropriate authorities, including the police and HMRC, to set out the facts and draw a line under this matter.'

The controversy has dogged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer since this newspaper first reported the arrangement – which was contained in a biography of Ms Rayner by Lord Ashcroft – on our front page on February 25.