Buying council house was 'proud moment' says Labour's Angela Rayner

25 February 2024 , 22:30

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'I worked hard, saved and bought it by the book' (Image: Getty Images)

Angela Rayner has said buying her council house in 2007 was a “proud moment” in her life as she hit back at claims of hypocrisy.

The Labour Deputy leader said she was “not ashamed” after reports she sold her ex-home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, for a profit of £48,000. Details of the sale are included in a biography of Ms Rayner, “Red Queen”, by the billionaire former Tory deputy chairman Lord Michael Ashcroft, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Responding, she said: “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”. In a defiant response on Twitter /X, she said: “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.”

The Shadow Levelling Up Secretary insisted Labour believes people who live in council houses should have the opportunity to buy their own home. Last year Labour floated the idea of reforming the Right to Buy policy introduced by the Tory PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Ms Rayner said: “We’ve said we’ll 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 he also slammed the Tories for putting the “dream of a secure home out of reach for so many others” after 14 years in power.

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It comes as Keir Starmer and Ms Rayner visit a housing development in the West Midlands on Monday. The Labour leader will hit out at the Tories’ dire record on housing and the decision by Rishi Sunak to scrap national house building targets.

He will say: “My mum and dad enjoyed the stability of a home they owned and a faith that their kids would have more opportunity than they did. And it wasn’t just them, 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. Meanwhile, their promises on levelling up are empty. The Tories aren’t just betting the house, they’re betting yours.”

Ashley Cowburn