Angela is no Ray of sunshine on Britain

IF ANGELA Rayner is the answer, what on earth is the question? As the Government sinks ever deeper in the mire of unpopularity, the noisy, maverick Deputy Prime Minister is increasingly hailed by Labour activists and supporters as the potential saviour of their party.

- Leo McKinstry

Yet for much of the public, the prospect of her entering Number 10 will cause only dismay. If she succeeds Sir Keir, she will be by far the most left-wing premier Britain has ever known. A radical socialist politician, she wants to make it easier to strike, and harder to run a business. She prefers tax hikes to spending cuts and clings to the pieties of woke ideology as well as the outdated enmities of class war.

The trade unions adore Rayner, not only because she worked as a regional official for Unison before her entry to Parliament in 2015, but also because she is determined to strengthen their influence. In a passionate speech in 2023 to the TUC, she set out a long catalogue of powers that she planned to give the unions if Labour won the next election. "I make no apology that we will work hand in hand with the trade unions," she declared, to thunderous applause.