All posts tagged: Rayner

Politics Home | East London Labour Deploys Rayner In Bid To Avoid Seismic Locals Defeat To Reform

Politics Home | East London Labour Deploys Rayner In Bid To Avoid Seismic Locals Defeat To Reform

Published by Sam Flores

6 min read31 min Angela Rayner has accused Reform UK of being anti-working class in a bid to help Labour keep hold of a London council that it has controlled since its inception over six decades ago. On Wednesday night, the former deputy prime minister campaigned in Barking and Dagenham, east London, where Nigel Farage’s party is hoping to make a major electoral breakthrough in the capital at the 7 May local elections. A YouGov poll published last week gave Reform a slender four per cent lead over the Labour Party. The Manchester MP’s visit to the outer London area came a day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer avoided being referred to the Privileges Committee over the Lord Mandelson affair, and amid intense speculation about how much longer he has in No 10. Speaking to Labour activists at the Trades Hall working men’s club in Dagenham, the party’s former deputy leader, who resigned from cabinet in September over unpaid stamp duty, joked about the current negativity within Labour as it braces for a bruising set of …

Who’s for the chop as Rayner heads for the top?

Who’s for the chop as Rayner heads for the top?

Published by Sam Flores

Angela Rayner is weighing up an offer from Sir Keir Starmer to return to the Cabinet as the Prime Minister battles for his political future. The Telegraph revealed Sir Keir personally extended the olive branch to his former deputy when the pair held secret talks in Manchester earlier this month. No 10 believes bringing Ms Rayner – the standard-bearer of the soft Left – back into the fold would help reunite the fractured Labour Party. It could also benefit the former deputy prime minister, who is looking for ways to rehabilitate herself and rebuild her reputation as a serious political player after the scandal over her unpaid tax bill. Ms Rayner with other members of Sir Keir’s Cabinet in Manchester in 2024 – Anthony Devlin/Getty Images Ms Rayner may choose to bide her time and go for the top job herself in the wake of what are predicted to be dire local election results for Labour. But if she were to return, which job would she want, and how would it benefit her in the …

Angela Rayner Holds Secret Meeting With Andy Burnham

Angela Rayner Holds Secret Meeting With Andy Burnham

Published by Sam Flores

Angela Rayner had a secret meeting with Andy Burnham on Friday night, according to new reports. The Sun on Sunday shared photos of the Greater Manchester mayor arriving at the former deputy prime minister’s constituency home in Ashton. Their summit adds to mounting speculation the two soft-left Labour figures might be considering launching a joint coup. Their encounter came hours after Keir Starmer furiously defended his premiership amid fresh developments in the Peter Mandelson scandal. It was revealed by the Guardian this week that the ex-Labour peer failed security vetting, but still secured the top job as the UK’s ambassador to the US. Starmer has since insisted that he was not told Mandelson had failed and only found out on Tuesday night. He then sacked the chief of the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, on Thursday night. As scrutiny over Starmer’s judgement grows once again, technology secretary Liz Kendall sent a message to the PM’s potential opponents this morning. She said: “Any politician that focuses more on their future and their job, not people’s future sand …

Labour At War As Angela Rayner Launches Leadership Race

Labour At War As Angela Rayner Launches Leadership Race

Published by Sam Flores

As leadership election launches ago, it was pretty inauspicious. Fewer than a dozen Labour MPs were present as Angela Rayner got to her feet in the basement of a Whitehall pub to make it clear she wants to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. Addressing the soft-left campaign group Mainstream’s spring reception, the former deputy PM said the government was “running out of time” to deliver the change Labour promised before the election. “It needs to be felt, and we have to show that it’s a Labour government that will deliver it,” Rayner declared, before going on to take aim at home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration crackdown. Plans to double the length of time it takes for migrants – including two million who are already in the UK – to be granted permanent residency are “un-British”, Rayner said. “That would not just be bad policy, but a breach of trust,” she told those present. “The people already in the system who made a huge investment now fear for their future. “We cannot talk about earning …

Angela Rayner slammed over ‘negative intervention’ about Labour government | Politics News

Angela Rayner slammed over ‘negative intervention’ about Labour government | Politics News

Published by Sam Flores

Angela Rayner was “wrong” to stage a high-profile intervention criticising the direction of Sir Keir Starmer’s government this week, Harriet Harman has said. Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the veteran Labour peer said Ms Rayner had offered just “one criticism after another” rather than “positive proposals”. Politics Hub: Follow the latest “It’s so easy to be popular when you are not in the hot seat, and whoever took over from Starmer would face all the same problems,” Baroness Harman said. In a speech at an event hosted by campaign group Mainstream on Wednesday, the former deputy prime minister warned Labour was “running out of time”. “I’m a big fan of Angela Rayner. I think she’s a remarkable woman. I think she energised the party when we were in opposition building up into government,” Baroness Harman said. Image: Angela Rayner speaks at a summit in Liverpool this week. Pic:Reuters But speaking about Ms Rayner’s speech on Wednesday evening, she added: “It didn’t have any proposals about what should …

If Keir Starmer wants to show his mettle, he should tell Rayner where to get off

If Keir Starmer wants to show his mettle, he should tell Rayner where to get off

Published by Sam Flores

Now it turns out the Government, viz, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, may be listening to this nitwit, and watering down her proposals. This is presumably on the basis that Andy Burnham, the Manchester mayor who might actually have posed a leadership risk to the PM, says that “we should always listen to Angela”. Look, this is a man who is sounding out potential allies for his own putative bid; don’t pay attention to him. Yet the Government has let it be known, in characteristically contradictory briefings, that it may do an about-turn on lengthening the period of residence in the UK prior to a citizenship application. So, it may not apply to people already here. Yet it is the 1.7 million people already here who are next in line to apply under the old rules who (whatever their individual merits) are precisely the problem. Ange could take a bow for increasing the population of the country by more than the size of Birmingham. Source link

Starmer signals migrant U-turn after pressure from Rayner

Starmer signals migrant U-turn after pressure from Rayner

Published by Sam Flores

Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to concessions over reforms to the rights of 1.6 million migrants to stay in the UK, following criticism from Angela Rayner. Downing Street repeatedly refused to say whether the Government would press ahead with plans devised by Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, to increase the time it takes for migrants already in the UK to qualify for permanent settlement. Ms Rayner, championed as a potential leadership contender by the Left, said on Tuesday that the plans were “un-British” and “pulled the rug” from underneath hard-working families. Any climbdown on migration would likely be seized upon by opponents who say a weak Sir Keir is being forced to the Left by his Cabinet and backbenchers. The Prime Minister could face a leadership challenge after the May local elections, when Labour is set to lose hundreds of council seats to Reform UK, which has made migration a key campaign issue. Under the Home Secretary’s proposed changes, most migrants will be forced to wait 10 years, rather than five years, before …

Keir Starmer set to cave in to Angela Rayner in immigration U-turn | Politics | News

Keir Starmer set to cave in to Angela Rayner in immigration U-turn | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in Downing Street (Image: Getty) This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more Keir Starmer is set to cave in to leadership rival Angela Rayner with a humiliating U-turn on flagship immigration reforms. The Prime Minister is reportedly drawing up plans to water down controversial changes to the rules for obtaining indefinite leave to remain, also known as settlement. It follows a furious backlash from Labour MPs who opposed the reforms – and an incendiary speech this week from Angela Rayner, the former Deputy Prime Minister, who condemned the changes and called them a “breach of trust”. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced that many migrants will need to live in the UK for 10 years to obtain indefinite leave to remain, which gives them the right to live and work in the UK without restrictions and makes them eligible for benefits and social housing. This is up from five years now. Read more: Labour’s botched handling of immigration risks …

Angela Rayner eyeing frontline politics return – with allies confident tax probe will end by May elections | Politics News

Angela Rayner eyeing frontline politics return – with allies confident tax probe will end by May elections | Politics News

Published by Sam Flores

Angela Rayner’s return to frontline politics began in earnest this week as the former deputy leader set out the challenge in the upcoming May elections. “We are running out of time,” she told MPs at a party event. “The very survival of the Labour Party is at stake.” The intention is clear: Rayner wants to demonstrate she is back and Sky News understands that her allies are increasingly confident that issues around her tax affairs will be resolved before the May elections, paving her return to the frontline at a moment of clear peril for the prime minister. Politics latest: Sarwar hasn’t spoken to PM since urging him to quit Image: Angela Rayner delivering a speech in Liverpool in February. Pic: Reuters Rayner was forced to resign in September after it emerged she had broken the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on her second home on the south coast by £40,000. At the time, Rayner admitted her mistake, but said it had been her initial “understanding, on advice from lawyers” that she had paid …

POLL: Would Angela Rayner make a better PM than Keir Starmer? | Politics | News

POLL: Would Angela Rayner make a better PM than Keir Starmer? | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Speaking at an event by campaign group Mainstream last night, Ms Rayner said Labour had come to be seen to represent “the Establishment, not working people”. She said: “As a party, and as a movement, we cannot hide, we cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline. There’s no safe ground and we’re running out of time. “The change that people wanted so desperately needs to be seen, it needs to be felt, and we have to show that it is a Labour government that will deliver it.” The Ashton-under-Lyne MP also took aim at Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms. She warned that changes to indefinite leave to remain for people already living in Britain would be a “breach of trust”. She said: “Many people came here to Britain – on the understanding that if they worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, they could stay. “If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those who have planned their lives …