It is the local election issue Labour would rather not talk about. The party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, is now facing a police investigation into multiple allegations relating to electoral law and capital gains tax, following the sale of her former council house nearly a decade ago. Rayner denies any wrongdoing.
The handling of this episode has left plenty to be desired, ever since questions were first raised in a biography of Rayner by Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman. No doubt the Tories seek electoral advantage in this saga. Rayner is a fierce political campaigner and popular with the public. She has also frequently criticised the Government, from pandemic contracts to Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs.
Rayner has promised to stand down as deputy leader if she is found to have committed a crime — as she and Sir Keir Starmer previously promised, to some political advantage, over the beergate incident in 2021. Yet this is a more difficult tightrope to walk than that episode, given that few outside of Conservative campaign headquarters seriously believed Sir Keir had broken lockdown laws.
Such is Labour’s polling lead that this saga may not derail their march to Number 10. But the ham-fisted handling of a straightforward political attack bodes ill for the future.
Smoke-free legacy
As a general rule, voters ought to be wary of politicians seeking a legacy. Yet there are exceptions. Rishi Sunak has shown genuine leadership in his commitment to ban young people from ever being legally able to purchase tobacco. Legislation to that effect easily passed the House of Commons last night, despite some opposition from Conservative backbenchers.
Smoking still kills. It is responsible for an estimated 55,000 cancer deaths each year in the UK, more than a quarter of all cancer deaths. Fewer and eventually zero smokers would represent a public policy success story. As for libertarian Tories up in arms, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins put it best: there is “no liberty in addiction”.
Hall tries to dine out
It is said in politics that if you are explaining, you are losing. If true, Susan Hall has been doing a lot of explaining. At a hustings last night, the Tory candidate for London mayor was forced to defend her wish to restrict free school meals to poorer children.
The concept of means-testing benefits is hardly novel or cruel. Sadiq Khan’s free school meals policy is a blunt tool. But it is one that stops children going hungry, even if it means some parents who might be able to afford to pay receive the benefit too. It is a curious hill upon which Hall is electing to die.
