Several Lorraine viewers have flooded the web with their angered reactions after the ITV show welcomed Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner onto Tuesday’s show.
Days after Rayner was involved in a so-called “car crash” interview with Sky News over her housing targets, Labour’s Deputy Leader faced a somewhat softer grilling from ITV’s daytime presenter.
Rayner – and Labour as a whole – have come under fire in the past few months due to measures implemented and proposed since the party was re-elected into power for the first time in 14 years.
These have ranged from a stripping of the winter fuel allowance affecting pensioners to the new inheritances tax measures proposed for farmers. However, in recent weeks, much scrutiny has been placed on Rayner’s ambitious targets to build 1.5 million homes in the UK.
Therefore, ITV viewers may have been forgiven for thinking the chance to quiz the Deputy PM on her party’s promises would take centre stage in Lorraine Kelly’s interview with the politician.
Instead, Kelly began: “Here we are, five months later, what would you put on your report card do you think?”
Lorraine Kelly spoke to Angela Rayner on Tuesday morning
ITV
“Well, I think there’s things that we’ve done and there’s more to do,” Rayner replied. “We’ve already introduced legislation around making sure we can get the 1.5 million homes, making sure that we’re tackling the homelessness… we’ve got 150,000 children, Lorraine, in temporary accommodation this Christmas, so really focused on trying to tackle that.
“And the new employment rights bills which was my flagship bill to make sure we can improve employment, increase the minimum wage for over three million workers from April next year. So lots of work done, lots of work to do.”
Kelly then chipped back in to mention some “own goals” committed by the Labour Party and that there was a “sense of disappointment” among the public, but rather than digging deeper into said mistakes, Kelly asked: “What’s been the hardest thing for you coming into power? Is it all you’ve expected it to be?”
Rayner replied by saying her main “frustration” is that she “always wants things done yesterday”, referring to the time it takes to implement the changes she desires.
Angela Rayner spoke to Lorraine about her time in goverment
ITV
Rayner added that “government doesn’t work as quickly as that” and that sometimes it can feel like she’s “bogged down in the weeds” – something Kelly said she could “completely understand”.
“It’s like trying to turn a massive ship,” Kelly replied. “You know what direction you want to go in but it’s like getting there is incredibly, incredibly frustrating.”
The ITV host then asked Rayner about the “scrutiny” she’s faced since becoming Deputy PM, suggesting it has intensified due to the fact she’s a woman.
“Has it got worse?” she asked, to which Rayner answered: “For me, it’s the same because there’s always been this fascination because I’m not your average politician and my background.
“People know that I’m from a very working-class background, I am quite an interesting character to people in parliament so I’ve always had that level of scrutiny.
“As a woman as well, you feel like you have to prove yourself. You don’t walk into a room and people think, ‘You’re a natural leader’, so therefore, coming from a working-class background and being a woman you feel you have to earn the respect in the room.”
Rayner went on to claim it meant she was working “double hard” and insisted it was a similar scenario that many females in the workplace face day after day.
Again, Kelly nodded in agreement and concurred with Rayner’s stance before asking the Deputy PM how more young girls could pursue a career in politics.
Rayner urged youngsters to “be themselves” because “politics is about people more than anything else” before Kelly turned her attention to the politician’s own personal photographer.
Kelly then brought up Rayner’s viral video of her partying in Ibiza, something the Labour MP defended as merely “letting her hair down” and enjoying some downtime.
Rounding off their chat, Kelly moved on to ask what keeps the Deputy PM “awake at night” and what her ambitions are while in power.
“There’s two things that I’m really responsible for,” Rayner said. “One of them is the employment rights bill which is about giving people secure work and the other is about housing and this target of 1.5 million by the end of this parliament…
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Angela Rayner (left) serves as Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy
PA
“Every time someone’s told me I can’t do something, I go hell for leather to make sure I can… we’re determined to do it and the whole cabinet, to be fair, is with me… They’re all up for this challenge.”
Kelly then claimed Brexit was a factor in making Rayner’s 1.5 million homes target tricky to reach. “Ask anyone in the building trade,” she remarked.
The pair then concluded their discussion by touching upon life as a grandmother after Rayner’s son Ryan welcomed his first child in November 2017.
As the conversation drew to a close, several viewers at home flocked to X, formerly Twitter, to suggest the line of questioning delivered to Rayner wasn’t what they’d expect to see towards a politician.
Suggesting Rayner faced an easy time of things on the ITV show, one viewer fumed: “@AngelaRayner #lorraine No mention, let alone apology, for taking away Winter Fuel Allowance from millions of State Pensioners, many on unliveable £12k-20k incomes, high rent costs, mortgages, high heating bills, high food costs. What about #WASPI women and your promises to them?”
A second echoed: “#Lorraine Giving Rayner a platform to annoy the working class of this country is a complete p*** take.”
Elsewhere, a third weighed in: “#Lorraine @AngelaRayner @Keir_Starmer @UKLabour for the people… Not one word mentioned about the millions of TAXPAYERS, PENSIONERS, VETERANS, FARMERS, WORKERS MONEY spent on illegal immigrants.”
“Angela Rayner has found her level with Lorraine,” a fourth sarcastically critiqued. “Not too much for her to worry about with this interview #lorraine #AngelaRayner.”
And a fifth brutally surmised: “Lorraine Kelly, so far up Angela Rayner’s a*** it is shocking on TV this morning.” (sic)
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