Angela Rayner Calls For Keir Starmers Policy Change

Angela Rayner has told Keir Starmer to “change now” as the prime minister faces the prospect of a leadership challenge within the next 24 hours.

In her first public comments since Labour’s catastrophic performance in last Thursday’s elections, Rayner also threw her weight behind Andy Burnham’s attempt to become an MP again.

She said: “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance.”

Rayner, who was forced to resign last September over a tax scandal, condemned Starmer’s handling of the Peter Mandelson row, which she said “showed a toxic culture of cronyism” in the party.

She also said it had been “a mistake” to block Burnham from standing in February’s by-election in Gorton and Denton, which saw Labour lose to the Greens.

Rayner said the Greater Manchester mayor should be allowed to return to Westminster.

“This is bigger than personalities, but it is time to acknowledge that blocking Andy Burnham was a mistake,” she said.

“We must show we understand the scale of change the moment calls for – that means bringing our best players into parliament – and embracing the type of agenda that has been successful at a local level, rather than reaching back to an agenda and politics that has failed people.

“These are the fights we need to have, and the change in direction we need to see. Policy tweaks will not fix the fundamental challenges facing our country.

“This government needs, at pace, to put measures in place that make people’s lives tangibly better, while fixing the foundations of a system rigged against them.

“The prime minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.

“Change our economic agenda to prioritise making people better off, change how we run our party so that all voices are listened to, and change how we do politics.

“Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change — now.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.