After leaving college Rayner worked for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker for a number of years. During this time, she was also elected as a trade union representative for Unison. She was later elected as convenor of UnisonNorth West, becoming the union's most senior official in the region.[6][7]The Guardian featured a lengthy profile of Rayner in 2012, as part of an article on a trade union officer's working life.[8]
At the snap 2017 general election, Rayner was re-elected as MP for Ashton-under-Lyne with an increased vote share of 60.4% and an increased majority of 11,295 votes.[16][17]
On 4 September 2023, Starmer appointed Rayner as shadow levelling up secretary, and shadow deputy prime minister.[26] Rayner's strong support base and potential as a future leader led to the New Statesman ranking her as the eighth most powerful person in British left-wing politics for 2023.[27]
During the 2024 general election Rayner took part in a BBC debate hosted by Mishal Husain on 7 June, which also included Nigel Farage, Carla Denyer, Rhun ap Iorwerth, Daisy Cooper, Stephen Flynn and Penny Mordaunt.[28] The debate included exchanges between Rayner and Mordaunt over Labour's alleged tax plans[29] After the seven-way debate, a snap poll found that viewers considered Farage had won, followed by Rayner.[30] Another debate between these leaders took place on 13 June, with Julie Etchingham as moderator.[31] This debate included further exchanges between Rayner and Mordaunt over Labour's alleged tax plans.[32]
Rayner identifies as a socialist.[34][35] In a 2017 interview to The Guardian which discusses her political beliefs, Rayner highlighted her pragmatism, describing herself as being part of the "soft left" of the Labour Party.[14] She has strongly criticised former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as he "did not command the respect of the party", and critiqued his lack of "discipline" when it came to dealing with allegations of antisemitism.[36]
Rayner has described herself as "quite hardline" on law and order issues, having suffered from antisocial behaviour when she was young. In an interview, she said police should "shoot your terrorists and ask questions second" and that she had told her local police force to "beat down the door of the criminals and sort them out and antagonise them."[37]
Rayner has made a political point of her working-class roots. She has asked Hansard transcribers not to correct her speeches, preferring purportedly "incorrect" grammar "because it's who I am".[38]
In 2019 Rayner declared her support for the WASPI campaign for compensation for women affected by government pension age changes.[39]
Rayner has said that she "didn't have a particularly strong view either way" on Brexit.[41] She campaigned and voted to remain in the European Union (EU) during the 2016 Brexit referendum.[42][43] After the referendum result, she voted in favour of triggering Article 50, arguing that although she was "fiercely pro-EU" she was "also a democrat".[43] She opposed Labour's policy for a second referendum adopted under Jeremy Corbyn[44] and argued that it would "undermine democracy".[45] She also opposed a delay to Article 50.[46] When asked how she would vote in a second referendum in December 2019, Rayner said she would vote leave as long as the withdrawal agreement "protects the economy and jobs".[47]
In October 2020, Rayner called Conservative MP Chris Clarkson "scum" as he was giving a speech in Parliament, and was rebuked by the Parliament's deputy speaker for doing so.[48][49] She later apologised.[49][50] Clarkson had been critical of the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who had been seeking financial support for Greater Manchester following local restrictions on businesses being introduced. Clarkson's constituency falls within the boundaries of Greater Manchester, as does Rayner's.[48] In September 2021, Rayner strongly criticised senior members of the Conservative Party, stating: "We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute pile... of banana republic... Etonian... piece of scum".[51] Some Labour MPs, while saying it was not the language that they would have used, defended her comments, including Steve Reed, John McDonnell and Lisa Nandy.[52] Starmer distanced himself from her remarks, but said it was up to Rayner if she wanted to apologise or not,[51] while other Labour MPs, including shadow cabinet ministers, condemned her in stronger terms.[53] The former Labour cabinet minister Lord Adonis said that if Rayner did not apologise for her comments, Starmer should say that he no longer has confidence in her as the deputy leader of the party. Adonis told Times Radio that her remarks were a way to start an election campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party.[54] Several Conservative MPs, including Grant Shapps, Amanda Milling and Oliver Dowden, condemned her comments.[54] Rayner later apologised for her comments in light of the murder of David Amess, a Conservative MP, the following month.[55]
Aged 16, Angela Bowen had her first son,[2] Ryan, with her 19-year-old boyfriend, Neil Batty, and took her GCSEs while pregnant. She and Batty then lived together for a while.[59] In 2010, she married Mark Rayner, a Unison official.[1] She has had two more sons, Charlie, born prematurely at 23 weeks, and Jimmy; she says the care that Charlie received demonstrated the importance of the NHS to her.[7][60] Rayner lives in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne with her family. She became a grandmother, aged 37, when Ryan had a daughter in November 2017.[59][61] Rayner and her husband separated in 2020.[59][62] In the summer of 2022, journalists began reporting that Rayner was in a relationship with Labour MP Sam Tarry[63][64] but they split up in 2023.[59]
In an interview in 2018, Rayner said that her mother had been unable to read or write; she had previously mentioned this in a tribute she made to her mother in 2016.[65] In a 2022 interview, Rayner said that she grew up in poverty on a council estate and could have been taken into care.[41] In the same interview, she recounted that after a year-long training programme to lose over 6 stone (84 lb; 38 kg) in weight, she took out a bank loan of £5,600 for cosmetic surgery on her 30th birthday.[41][66]
In October 2021, Rayner reported receiving a number of death threats and abusive messages. The police arrested a 52-year-old man in Halifax.[67] She cancelled a number of meetings with her constituents due to fears for her own safety.[67] Later, a 36-year-old man from Cambridgeshire was prosecuted after sending her a threatening email. The man pleaded guilty in court to sending the email and was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.[68] Earlier in March 2019, Rayner said that she had fitted panic buttons at her home after rape and death threats were sent to her.[69]
In May 2022, Rayner said she would resign if she received a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations while campaigning during the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election and local elections the previous year.[73] The controversy surrounding the event was dubbed "Beergate".[74] She and Starmer were both cleared by Durham Police in July 2022 who said there was "no case to answer".[75]
In February 2023, Rayner was criticised over her use of public money to claim for AppleAirPods, stating all of her technology had to sync.[76]
In March 2024 a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, Michael Ashcroft, alleged in a book, serialised in The Mail on Sunday, that Rayner had misled tax officials in the sale of her council house in 2007.[77][78] Rayner said that she had done nothing wrong, and declined to publish her tax records or tax advice. Greater Manchester Police said they found no evidence that any offence had been committed. At the request of James Daly, Conservative MP for Bury North, the police agreed to review their decision not to investigate.[79][80][81] Daly also alleged Rayner might have wrongly declared where she was living on the electoral register.[78]
The police confirmed in April 2024 that they had opened an investigation into the allegations.[82][79][83] A poll, by the research consultancy Savanta, indicated that 56% of Labour voters and 26% of Tory voters thought the allegations were a smear campaign by the Conservative Party.[84] Rayner subsequently said that she would "do the right thing and step down" if she were found to have broken the law.[85][86] In May 2024, news sources suggested Rayner was set to be interviewed by the police under caution.[87][88] Later that month, Greater Manchester Police and Stockport Council both said that they would take no action against Rayner.[89][90][91] Rayner was also cleared by HM Revenue and Customs, which concluded that she did not owe any capital gains tax and thus no action would be taken.[92][89]
^Sylvester, Rachel; Thomson, Alice (24 September 2021). "Angela Rayner: 'I find it difficult feeling happy'". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021. She met her husband, Mark Rayner, through the trade union movement. They are now separated. [...]
^"Angela Rayner denies misleading tax officials". BBC News. 1 March 2024. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024. The allegations have sprung from claims made in a book by Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman about Ms Rayner's ex-council house on Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester.