The Labour Party Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party Southside. 105 victoria Street, Landon, SWIE 6OT (0845 092 2299 | Inhourerpud/enmtact AngelahaenertaP Deeangetatayner ‘Amanda Milling Chair of the Conservative Party Conservative Campaign Headquarters 4 Matthew Parker Street London SW1H SHQ, Monday 26" April 2020 Dear Amanda | am writing to you for the second time in a matter of days to raise serious concerns about the Conservative Party's campaign in the Hartlepool by-election. itis being reported that your candidate jill Mortimer spent time living in a tax haven where her former husband worked as 4 banker, Mrs Mortimer had already admitted she has not “spent a lot of time” in Hartlepool. Jam sure | do not need to remind you that businesses that set up in places like the Cayman Islands tend to have a very specific motivation for doing so: namely, to avoid paying their fair share of taxes that contribute to running the public services we all rely on in this country. This kind of thinking is a million miles away fram how most people live their lives. People in Hartlepool believe in fair play and paying into the system. The average full-time worker in Hartlepool, for example, will be paying almost £5,000 in tax -a contribution anyone living in a tax haven fails to make. That you are seeking to impose this candidate on the people of Hartlepool speaks volumes about the overwhelming sense that the Conservative Party believes that private interests should trump the public interest at every turn. It is further evidence that, rather than putting the British people first, sleaze and cronyism drive every decision your Party makes. f4LabourThe Labour Party On Friday | wrote to you about how you risk bringing this by-election into disrepute by amplifying material fram US-based conspiracy theorists. | repeat that our NHS. workers have been among the heroes of the pandemic and | would hope you are as concerned as | am that the Conservatives are trying to undermine the work done by doctors in the local area. Successive Conservative governments have cut NHS budgets, closed hospitals and downgraded services, including in North Tees and Hartlepool - and the current Conservative government is refusing to give our NHS workers the pay rise they deserve. The contrast between your Party's priorities and Labour's candidate Dr Paul Williams — who has been working on the NHS frontline in the town throughout the pandemic, and who is campaigning to bring back the NHS services that the Conservatives cut and to deliver good, well-paid jobs for local people - could not be more stark. To add to the questions | asked on Friday, | would also like to ask: + Were you aware of jill Mortimer’s Cayman Islands connection when she was selected? + If not, why not? If so, can you confirm that you knew but still endorsed her to represent the people of Hartlepool? + What business, banking and investment interests were she or her former husband engaged in? + Did they gain any tax advantage from living there — and did she or he advise others of the tax advantages of setting up or living in the Cayman Islands? «Inthe interests of transparency, will you now publish a full account of jill Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands? + Will you also order Jill Mortimer to publish in full her tax returns covering that period? + Can the Conservative Party and jill Mortimer confirm she no longer has any ‘connection to the Cayman Islands, including financial interests such as bank accounts or any other assets? * Will you apologise to the people of Hartlepool for seeking to impose a candidate who has more connection with tax havens than Hartlepool town centre? Yours Sincerely ie \ ¢ Or Aor Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP Deputy Leader & Chair of The Labour Party Labour