Odds plunge on Angela Rayner becoming next Labour party leader after she vowed ... trends now
The odds of Angela Rayner becoming the next leader of the Labour party have drifted amid the tax row over her council house.
The deputy leader was once a 3/1 favourite to succeed Sir Keir Starmer but her odds have dramatically dropped to 41/1 on Saturday morning – down from 29/1 overnight, according to Betfair Exchange.
Eight of her Shadow Cabinet colleagues are now placed more favourably following the police's announcement yesterday it will begin an investigation into whether she broke electoral law over the sale of her council house.
However Starmer welcomed the probe by Greater Manchester Police into how his deputy dealt with the 2015 sale of her council house, saying he was 'fully confident' in his number two.
But Betfair punters appeared less confident in her position in the party.
Angela Rayner's odds of becoming the next leader of the Labour party have dramatically dropped to just 41/1 amid the tax row over her council house
The deputy leader was once 3/1 favourite to succeed Sir Keir Starmer but the fallout over her tax affairs have slashed the odds. Pictured: A general view of the home in Lowndes Lane, Stockport, Greater Manchester (Ms Rayner's ex-partner's property) which is at the centre of the row
The mother of three has insisted that for many years her 'principal property' was the house in Vicarage Road, Stockport (pictured) Ms Rayner sold the house for £127,500 in March 2015, according to property website Zoopla
Andy Burnham is now viewed as Starmer's most-likely successor, with the Mayor of Greater Manchester placed at 7/1.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves is second with 9/1. Yvette Cooper (10/1), Wes Streeting (12/1), and Lisa Nandy (14/1) are all placed ahead of Rayner.
However despite the grim outlook of public confidence, Labour shadow ministers have suggested the row is overblown.
Jim McMahon defended the mother of three on Saturday after Conservative Party deputy chairman James Daly suggested she may have given false information about her main residence.
He called the investigation a 'storm in a teacup' and rejected suggestions of 'double standards' over her tax affairs.
The former union shop steward was accused of 'double standards' for failing to relinquish her shadow cabinet duties despite having called for Conservatives to resign before due process took place.
The shadow minister for English Devolution & Local Government said it was unfair to compare Ms Rayner's situation to the pandemic-era scandal involving former prime minister Boris Johnson, whom she called on to resign while Scotland Yard probed claims of Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.
But the Tories have accused her of 'double standards' as she remains in post after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed it would investigate claims that she may have broken electoral law.
Appearing on Saturday's morning broadcast round, Mr McMahon said 'we can't compare the two situations at all' when asked about parallels being drawn between Ms Rayner's position and Mr Johnson's.
Labour shadow minister Jim McMahon called the investigation a 'storm in a teacup' and rejected suggestions of 'double standards'
Angela Rayner is still facing questions about her property dealings and whether any required tax was paid
Angela Rayner promised to resign if a police probe into her past living arrangements finds she broke the law
'What is frankly quite a minor matter before somebody even became an MP is quite different than the Prime Minister of the country, who's told the country to observe the rules during a global pandemic, where people were dying in vast numbers every single day, where the photo evidence was there, where witness testimony was there, where he misled parliament,' the shadow local government minister told Sky News.
'That is not a comparable situation whatsoever. And so we need to be clear about that.'
Speaking to GB News, he said: 'I think a lot of people will see this as a storm in a teacup.'
But after Sir Keir Starmer three times refused to say whether she should quit if found guilty, Ms Rayner vowed she would go if criminality is uncovered.
It comes as Ms Rayner has said she will '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 but remains confident she has followed the law at all times.
She has faced scrutiny about whether she paid the right amount of tax on the 2015 sale of her Stockport council house because of confusion over whether it was her principal residence.
Ms Rayner has rejected suggestions in an unauthorised biography by former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft that she failed to properly declare her main home after buying the property with a 25 per cent discount under the right-to-buy scheme in 2007.
She faces pressure over claims she may have owed capital gains tax on property made from the sale of her home on Vicarage Road in Stockport in March 2015 - and that she may have broken electoral law by registering at the wrong address.
Ms Rayner, since The Mail on Sunday first questioned her living arrangements, has admitted not knowing HMRC's complex rules, leaving open the possibility the couple failed to nominate a primary residence
On Wednesday Ms Rayner was targeted by a Tory-sponsored 'tax dodger' protest as she broke cover on the election campaign trail in the North East
Former party leader Ed Miliband said she was an inspiration and 'exactly the kind of person we need in politics', at an event alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan today.
She said that the house was her main residence when she sold it for £127,500, which would exempt her from paying around £1,500 in tax on the £48,500 she made
