Angela 'Two Homes' Rayner accused of using national security laws to hide the fact she has THREE bathrooms in grace-and-favour home
The Deputy Prime Minister's officials refused to answer a Parliamentary question about the number of bedrooms in her London residence in Admiralty House 'for security and operational reasons'.
However, the Conservatives have discovered through Freedom of Information laws that she enjoys the use of three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The revelation is part of a wider attempt by the Tories to establish whether Ms Rayner is paying her own council tax surcharge on second homes on Admiralty House.
She became known as 'Two Homes Rayner' last year after this newspaper revealed she had shuttled between two Right-To-Buy council properties early in her marriage. It was claimed that she rented out her house while living in her husband's property.
Ms Rayner has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
It is not known where she is currently paying council tax.
Records of MPs' expenses show that when she entered government, Ms Rayner designated her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency home as her 'primary residence', and a London flat she used to rent as her second.
That allowed her to claim back the £1,621 council tax bill on the flat from the taxpayer as one of the housing costs reimbursed by Commons authorities.
But, having moved into Admiralty House four months before her Local Government Department started levying an extra 100 per cent council tax charge on second homes, if the Ashton-under-Lyne property is still her primary residence the £2,034 council tax bill for her grace-and-favour home – and for which she is now liable – doubles to £4,068.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: 'It's a scandal that Rayner tried to use national security laws to prevent the public from knowing she has three bathrooms all to herself.
'She claims to be a woman of the people but this exposes how out of touch she has become... Rayner must use this opportunity to come clean on her council tax bill on this residence. '
A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: 'Angela is has two teenage sons and the flat she has been allocated has enough room for them to be able to stay with her... That's hardly surprising and most certainly isn't unprecedented.'
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