Angela Rayner could be the next Deputy Prime Minister if the polls are anything to go by (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
Angela Rayner and Penny Mordaunt are set to go head-to-head this evening in a BBC election debate.
The deputy leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the House of Commons are expected to discuss many issues impacting the UK electorate ahead of the election on July 4.
They will also come face-to-face with other panelists including Daisy Cooper for the Liberal Democrats and Nigel Farage on behalf of Reform UK.
Others will include Stephen Flynn for the Scottish National Party, the Green Party will be represented by co-leader Carla Denyer and Plaid Cymru by leader Rhun ap Iorwerth.
But if all the polls are correct the most important woman in the room is Angela Rayner – who could become our next Deputy Prime Minister.
So who is Angela Rayner? We take a look below.
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Who is Angela Rayner?
Angela Rayner is Labour’s deputy leader, shadow deputy prime minister, and shadow secretary for levelling up.
She is the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester and has been since 2015 and identifies as a socialist on the soft left of the party.
Ms Rayner has quickly risen up the ranks in the Labour party (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
Born and raised on a council estate in Stockport, she left school at the age of 16 pregnant without any qualifications.
Following some time at a local FE college, she trained in social care and later became a social worker providing one-on-one care to elderly people in their homes.
She was put forward by her workmates to speak for them as a union rep for Unison and at the same time joined the Labour party.
Ms Rayner soon rose through the ranks of the trade union movement and became the most senior elected official of Unison in the north west of England.
In 2015, she became the first woman MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in its 100-year history.
Under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn she went on to hold the position of shadow pensions minister, before becoming a member of the shadow cabinet as shadow education secretary.
She was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in March 2020 and also holds roles of shadow deputy prime minister and shadow levelling up secretary.
What is Angela Rayner’s constituency?
Angela Rayner has been an MP for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015 (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
Angela Rayner is the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.
The parliamentary constituency has an electorate of 68,553 and used to be a hub for textile production and manufacturing like much of Greater Manchester.
Incomes and house prices in this constituency are lower than UK averages.
The seat has been under Labour control since 1931.
Is Angela Rayner married?
Ms Rayner married Mark Rayner in 2010 but the pair separated in 2020.
She had her first son called Ryan at the age of 16 with her then-boyfriend, Neil Batty, who was 19.
She has two other sons with her former husband Mark Rayner, Charlie, who was born prematurely at 23 weeks and Jimmy.
She lives in her constituency and became a grandma at the age of 37 when her youngest son had a baby daughter.
The media started reporting that Rayner was in a relationship with Labour MP Sam Tarry but she said they split up in 2023.
What was the council house row?
Police confirmed that the investigation into Angela Rayner has been dropped (Picture: Getty Images)
Questions over Ms Rayner’s council house were first sparked when claims were made in an unauthorised biography of her, written by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, which was published in March.
She bought her former council house in Stockport under the right-to-buy scheme in 2007.
She sold it for £48,500 more than she paid for it after her marriage in 2010.
She said she didn’t pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the profit, because, like the ‘majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes,’ it was ‘my home and the only one I owned’.
Those selling their ‘main residence’ typically don’t have to pay the tax.
Couples and civil couples can normally only count one property as their main home for CGT purposes, prompting questions over whether she should have paid some tax.
But police eventually confirmed she would face no action.
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It has referred the investigation to HMRC and Stockport Council because ‘council tax and personal tax do not fall into the jurisdiction of policing’.
HMRC said she did not owe any capital gains tax and it would not take any further action.
Stockport Council said upon review of the matter it would not be pursuing police action against Ms Rayner.
When is the Angela Rayner vs Penny Mordaunt debate?
The debate takes place on BBC One and BBC News this evening from 7.30pm to 9pm.
It will be presented by Mishal Hussain and people and the audience will be given the opportunity to ask the panel questions.
Each participant will be given 30 seconds at the end of the debate to give their closing statements.
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