Buying my council house was a proud moment... I won’t let Tories kick me
Rayner hits back at hypocrisy claim
LABOUR’S deputy leader Angela Rayner yesterday said buying her council house was a “proud moment” as she hit back at accusations of hypocrisy.
She said she was “not ashamed” after reports said she sold her former home for a profit of £48,000.
Details of the sale are reportedly included in a biography of Ms Rayner called Red Queen by billionaire Tory peer Michael Ashcroft
After the story appeared, Tory MP Mark Jenkinson posted: “So Angela Rayner is a massive hypocrite, who knew?”
Ms Rayner responded: “It’s clear that Lord Ashcroft and his friends not only take an unhealthy interest in my family – but want to kick down at people like me who graft hard in tough circumstances to get on in life. I won’t let them.
“Being able to buy my council house back in 2007 was a proud moment for me. I worked hard, saved and bought it by the book.”
In a defiant response, Ms Rayner also the Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, said Labour believes people in council houses should have the opportunity to buy their own home.
Ms Rayner bought the house in Stockport, Gtr Manchester, under the right-to-buy policy, introduced by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
Last year Labour floated the idea of reforming the policy.
Ms Rayner said: “We have said we will review the unfair additional market discounts of up to 60% the Tories introduced in 2012, long after I was able to exercise the right to buy (25%) under the old system.
“That’s not hypocrisy… it’s the right thing to do.”
She also slammed the Tories for putting the “dream of a secure home out of reach for so many others”. Ms Rayner said the problem with right-tobuy “was that council housing stock was sold off and not replaced”. She added: “It’s helped fuel the housing crisis.”
It comes as Keir Starmer and Ms Rayner visit a housing development in the West Midlands today.
The Labour leader will hit out at the Tories’ dire record on housing.
He will say: “My mum and dad enjoyed the stability of a home they owned and a faith their kids would get more opportunity than they did.
“It’s engrained in the British psyche – you work hard, you can get on. Work will pay. Life will give you chances. The Conservative Party ’s economic choices run completely against those values.”
The Tories want to kick people like me who graft hard in tough circumstances ANGELA RAYNER RESPONDING TO CLAIMS OF HYPOCRISY