Richard Holden takes swipe at Rayner over police probe after major housebuilding speech

Angela Rayner has been criticised by the Conservatives after a major speech today, which saw her pledge to build "homes fit for the future".

Tory chairman Richard Holden said it is "remarkable" that the Labour deputy would "want to talk about housing whilst there is an active police investigation related to her own housing situation".

She pledged to build "a new generation" of New Towns as part of an "ambitious house-building agenda".

Rayner, who denies any wrongdoing, is being formally investigated over the sale of her council house after being reported to the police by Tory MP James Daly.

She is facing allegations she may have given false information about where she was living.

Giving a speech to property industry leaders at the UKREiiF conference in Leeds earlier today, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne said Labour’s new era for private sector involvement in housing development means "backing developers who deliver."

The Shadow Housing Secretary told the Conference that a Labour government will set high standards on design, quality, affordable homes, green spaces and infrastructure.

She also set out plans for the next generation of New Towns, echoing those built by the first Labour government after World War Two, in what has been described by the party as a "crucial part" of its plan to build homes "fit for the future".

Speaking ahead of the speech, Holden said: "It’s remarkable that Angela Rayner would want to talk about housing whilst there is an active police investigation related to her own housing situation.

"Not to mention that Labour tried to enact this policy last time they were in office and completely failed – failing to build even one new town and overseeing the lowest level of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s.

"Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives will stick to the plan, which is working, delivering one million homes by the end of this Parliament, with 250,000 more affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Homes Programme.

"The choice could not be clearer, stick with the plan under the Conservatives or go back to square one with Labour."

In a statement ahead of the speech, Rayner said: "Labour’s New Towns are just one part of our ambitious house-building agenda which will see swathes of good quality, affordable houses built in the national interest.

"Developers who deliver on their obligations to build high quality, well designed and sustainable affordable housing, with green spaces and transport links and schools and GPs surgeries nearby, will experience a new dawn under Labour.

"But those who have wriggled out of their responsibilities for too long will be robustly held to account."

She added: "Labour’s towns of the future will be built on the foundations of our past.

"The post-war period taught us that when the government plays a strategic role in housebuilding, we can turbo-charge growth to the benefit of working people across Britain. That is what Labour’s plans will achieve."

Rayner has maintained that there has been "no wrongdoing" and "no unlawfulness".

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She told the BBC: "I’ve been very clear there’s no rules broken. They [the Conservatives] tried to manufacture a police investigation … I got tax advice which says there was no capital gains tax. It’s a non-story manufactured to try and smear me."

Rayner has said she "lived there, paid the bills there and was registered to vote there" until she sold the property in 2015.

The revelation of her £48,000 profit on the sale of her home was first revealed by Lord Michael Ashcroft in his book.