Angela Rayner is battling mounting questions over her tax arrangements after electoral records revealed she has registered to vote in person at her newly purchased second home.

The Deputy Prime Minister has postal votes registered at both her constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne and in Westminster, but is also listed to vote in person in Hove, where she splashed out £800,000 on a seafront apartment in May, reports The Telegraph.

The revelation appears to blow a massive hole in Ms Rayner’s insistence that her Ashton-under-Lyne property remains her main residence – a crucial claim that allows her to dodge paying £2,000 council tax on her grace-and-favour London home. The news comes as the huge deposit Angela Rayner put down on £800k seaside home was revealed.

The fresh evidence is set to deepen suspicions over her increasingly complex housing arrangements, which have been under intense scrutiny since it emerged she saved a whopping £40,000 in stamp duty on her new Hove flat.

Tories pile on pressure

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake launched a blistering attack on the Deputy PM, saying: “Day by day, Angela Rayner’s web of apparent tax avoidance is unravelling, exposed by her convoluted and contradictory claims about where she lives.

“No reasonable person can think it acceptable for the minister in charge of electoral integrity to attempt to hold three votes in May’s elections, or for the Housing Secretary to weave her way around council-tax obligations and stamp duty on her second home while lecturing hard-working families about paying more tax on theirs.”

The mounting pressure threatens to overshadow Parliament’s return after the summer recess, with Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, potentially opening an investigation within days.

Multiple voting exposed

The Telegraph revealed last week that Ms Rayner is registered to vote in three separate locations: Tameside – home to her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency – Hove, and Westminster. This means she could potentially cast multiple votes in next year’s local elections, which would be entirely within electoral rules but raises serious questions about her residence claims.

By convention, Ms Rayner avoids paying the £2,000 annual council tax on her ministerial Westminster flat because she claims it as her second home. This arrangement depends entirely on her insistence that her constituency property in Ashton-under-Lyne remains her primary residence.

However, neighbours have reported she is rarely seen at the northern property, and she has previously spoken about her children visiting her in London – further undermining her main residence claims.

Fresh evidence of housing confusion

The London electoral entry relates to Ms Rayner’s previous rental flat in Westminster, which she treated as her second home before being granted use of Admiralty House. While she notified Westminster council she had vacated the property when moving to the grace-and-favour home, she appears to have proactively added herself to Hove’s electoral roll.

Mr Hollinrake seized on the voting arrangements as damning evidence, declaring: “She’s cooked up the bogus claim that her primary residence is in Tameside so taxpayers can pick up the bill for her London council tax.”

The fact that Ms Rayner receives postal votes in Ashton-under-Lyne while registering to vote in person in Hove has fuelled speculation she is distancing herself from her northern constituency.

Mounting controveries

The revelations come after a torrid week of intense scrutiny over Ms Rayner’s living arrangements. On Friday, it emerged she saved £40,000 on stamp duty for her seafront flat by telling tax authorities it was her main home – despite sources claiming Ashton-under-Lyne remained her primary residence for council tax purposes.

The controversy deepened on Sunday when reports surfaced that she employed services from a company specialising in “wealth protection”.

She has also been embroiled in a fresh “hypocrisy row” over her partner’s links to a firm whose former client received government funds, and faces accusations of plotting a “chicken run” to the south coast after polls suggested she could lose her current seat to Reform.

Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader, claimed Ms Rayner was giving herself the “option” to flee the north by purchasing a home in ultra-safe Hove.

Government defends Deputy PM

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson rushed to defend Ms Rayner on Sunday, insisting she deserved “privacy” over her tax arrangements and was free to spend her money as she wished.

Asked on BBC Breakfast whether the Government would consider opening an investigation, Ms Phillipson said: “Angela Rayner has been clear that she has followed all the rules and requirements asked of her, that she has fully followed the rules. Everything that she has done has been consistent with that.”

When pressed on whether it would be best to get the details “out in the open”, Ms Phillipson maintained Ms Rayner deserved “privacy” over her tax affairs.

“She has been clear that she’s followed all the rules. But these do relate, as you’ll appreciate, to family matters, to her own living arrangements. And you know, that is really a matter for her in terms of her own family circumstances,” she said.

“She’s been clear that she’s followed the rules, in which case she is also, as a parent, entitled to some privacy too.”