Angela Rayner gives an insight into new Labour Government and meeting King Charles twice on return to Ashton

The new Deputy Prime Minister walked into a packed lecture hall in Ashton Sixth Form College to face a grilling from the very students she hopes ‘will feel part of the change’ she hopes to bring. Students heard about the nasty surprises that were waiting for her in Whitehall, her start to life in politics and how she hopes to deliver the ‘change’ the Labour Party have repeatedly called for.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP briefly outlined her role as Keir Starmer’s number two and being the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.  She joked that if “anything were to happen to Keir, touch wood, then I’d be running the country”. 

Ms Rayner described how in her first week in power she’s already made around 80 decisions, going through numerous security briefings and two meetings with his majesty King Charles III.

Starting out with a quick anecdote on brushing shoulders with royalty, Ms Rayner regaled: “I went to see the King to get the royal seal for my department as part of the government. But what I didn’t know was, when the next day I changed the name of that department, I had to go back to the King again to do it all over again. The King said ‘hmm, back again so soon’.”

She added that places like Ashton are set to benefit under the new government and how she has to ‘bring in millions of new homes across the country’ and ‘making communities feel supported’. Her opening statement was short and sweet – with her quips being met with laughter from the students from across the Stamford Park Trust.

Referring to what inspired her to get to where she is in government, Ms Rayner pushed the students ‘think of something you enjoy and pursue that’ quoting the well-used saying that if you do something you enjoy, you never work a day in your life. She used an example of herself as a homecare worker who wanted to make a positive difference – which led her getting involved in the unions and then later the Labour Party.

Questions were fired at the deputy PM from students belonging to the sixth form as well as Longdendale High School, Rayner Stephens High School and Fairfield High School for Girls.

Education and dealing with ‘faults under the bonnet’

The first question came from Zac, a current A1 politics student:

Like a lot of students both here and across the country I study a mixed study programme which combines A Levels and BTECs. I am really aware that this opportunity will not be available to students in the future if the current plan to defund these qualifications continues. Please could you give any assurances around whether you see BTEC’s having a long term future and whether the pause and review period will remain in place until at least 2027?

In response, Ange, as she referred to herself as, believed that prioritising the T-Levels that had been brought in was key and they wanted to make them a success and stabilising the qualifications. She explained that the government didn’t want thousands of students to go through these qualifications that then later get binned off – making them feel less worthwhile to have done.

The new education secretary Bridget Phillipson is reviewing the entire department and stabilising and making sure that qualifications are recognised going forward is a priority. Emphasising the need for this review, Ms Rayner likened coming into government to buying a new car and finding a few faults as soon as you open up the bonnet.

“There are a few nasties under the bonnet for us to contend with, and you might’ve seen in the news only today about the prison sector and the last government has left us in there. I think it’s fair to say we’re going to find a lot of them in other departments. That will inform how we take some of the policies going forward.”

Putting trust back into politics

Maddy – a politics student alumni of the sixth form:

The low turnout in this year’s General Election of 60 per cent shows the apathy the public have towards the government as an institution. How are you, as a Labour government, going to restore trust?

Overpromising and under delivering and the snappy slogans are to blame for the lack of faith the public has with politicians, was the response from Ms Rayner. Admitting that some feel Labour’s policies going into this election were under ambitious, she stated that everything they’ve said leading up to polling day on July 4, the party were confident of delivering to the people.

Pointing to Labour’s plan to overhaul the energy companies and create Great British Energy, a new publicly-owned clean energy company, which she claims will ‘create thousands of jobs up and down the country, reduce bills and help save the planet’. Ms Rayner believes this plan in particular is ‘incredibly ambitious’.

Moving onto reversing the two-child benefit limit, something they ‘don’t have the money for’, the students were told Labour didn’t want to ‘fudge it’ in the build up to the election – then later say they can’t do it.  

Overcoming hurdles and becoming the female leader she is today

Jacqueline Owokoniran – Head girl at Fairfield High School asked:

What challenges have you faced on your journey to becoming a strong female leader?

The question brought the Stockport-born politician back to her roots, looking back at her 16-year-old self who had found herself pregnant and leaving school without qualifications. She cited this time in her life and how people comment on it as “heavily steeped in, she must be stupid or she’s promiscuous, which is clearly not true”. 

This created barriers that the Avondale High School alumni stated she had to overcome to get where she is today. Alongside having a Mancunian accent and going to a state school without a university education – she admitted to feeling like peers in her line of work had the assumption she had no knowledge of what she’s talking about.

“Gaining the knowledge I’ve had and having a little bit of a chip on my shoulder to make sure I don’t let people down who are like me, I over work,” she added. “So if I’m going into a building to talk about something, I will do my homework on it because I don’t want one of those guys in suits to think I don’t know my stuff.

“It was very clear that Boris Johnson didn’t, just as an example. Just because he went to Eton and from a different upbringing to me he walked into a room and thought ‘I obviously know what I’m talking about’. I walk into a room and I have to earn that respect because people don’t think she knows everything. I’ve always had to fight to get to where I am. You’re just as clever as everyone else.”

She went on to say that the country needs to break down some of these unconscious biases that are holding people in society back. She used an example of presumptions comparing two teens in tracksuits walking down the street to two grannies – getting a laugh by saying the lads might be alright and the ‘gangster grannies might get you’.

Changing up the Levelling Up department

Lily – current A1 history student asked:

You have recently expressed dislike of the term ‘Levelling Up’. Are you and Labour still committed to Ashton’s much-needed regeneration plan in your new role?

Ms Rayner said that levelling up is more about getting the foundations right, referencing low-quality housing and lifestyles. She wants to see more good jobs being in areas like Ashton to stop the talented people leaving the area and reducing business rates to bring more life back into town centres. The deputy PM denounced ‘pet projects’ that spruce up a town, suggesting that the foundations of a house have to be right before you start painting the outside. 

“It’s tinkering around the edges when the fundamental foundations have been chipped away. I think levelling up was a cynical ploy to try and make people think they cared about levelling up when you’re taking away services you desperately need.”

After a busy week in Westminster working 15-hour days every day, according to Ms Rayner, the college was her first stop on her return to the Tameside borough. This was an honour the education trust was proud to receive.

Centre Principal, Lisa Richards, said: “It was an absolute honour and a delight to have Angela in college today speaking to our current, past and future students as well as year 10 pupils from our partner schools. As the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, she has long been a friend of the college and is hugely supportive of the work we do with young people and adult returners so we were delighted when she chose to come here as one of her first post-election visits and as Deputy Prime Minister.

“I think it is safe for me to say that the students were hugely inspired by Angela’s talk. One said to me on leaving: ‘it’s made me feel that anything is possible’.  I am very proud of the intelligent and pertinent questions asked by students and pupils, on topics ranging from the future of BTECs to the role of social media in election campaigns. What a fabulous afternoon.”