Rayner on the rampage: After pressing Reeves to hike taxes, she clashes with Chancellor and Starmer on cuts – as supporters eye up her leadership chances
Angela Rayner is at war with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves over plans to slash her department’s budget, the Mail can reveal.
In a series of increasingly heated meetings, the Deputy Prime Minister is said to have complained ‘forcibly’ about proposals to squeeze spending on housing.
Ms Rayner, who this week sparked fevered speculation about her leadership ambitions, is set to be one of the biggest losers at next month’s comprehensive spending review.
Labour sources said she had confronted the Prime Minister and Chancellor about the plans in recent weeks but had got nowhere.
It is the latest sign of splits between Ms Rayner, Ms Reeves and Sir Keir – and comes just days after a leaked memo revealed the Deputy PM had urged the Chancellor to hike taxes on savers and high earners.
The leak sparked speculation that Ms Rayner could be positioning herself as a future leader from the Left of the party.
Housing Secretary Ms Rayner is tasked with delivering the manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
She reportedly threatened to resign over the ‘impossible’ target, it emerged last month, but now faces meeting it on an even smaller budget.
Angela Rayner is at war with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves over plans to slash her department’s budget, the Mail can reveal
In a series of increasingly heated meetings, the Deputy Prime Minister is said to have complained ‘forcibly’ about proposals to squeeze spending on housing
Ms Rayner, who this week sparked fevered speculation about her leadership ambitions, is set to be one of the biggest losers at next month’s comprehensive spending review. Pictured: Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
A Labour source told the Mail: ‘She is unhappy because she’s been screwed in the spending review.
‘The review is going to be a difficult moment for the whole Government but her department is being really squeezed.
‘She has made her views known forcibly in private because she has been set this very difficult housing target and feels like she is having the rug pulled out from under her.
‘But she has got nowhere so far and I think that is why you are seeing her signalling to Labour MPs that she doesn’t agree with some of the decisions being made on cuts.
‘It is not helpful behaviour and it’s probably not even in her own interests, but it is understandable.’
Downing Street sources say they are ‘sure’ Ms Rayner is on manoeuvres, and it emerged yesterday that her supporters have been quietly conducting ‘unauthorised focus groups’ to find out how she would fare in a leadership campaign.
The results suggest she needs to show she is a ‘serious politician’, according to The Guardian.
Along with funding to meet her housing target, Ms Rayner is also reportedly urging Ms Reeves to hike spending on social housing – but is facing resistance. Unlike some other departments, she is still locked in talks with the Treasury over the funding settlement, a separate source said.
Rayner is said to be furious about plans to cut housing spending and has demanded the chancellors hike taxes on higher earners
Another senior government figure said the spending review would be ‘f*****g hard’ and involved some ‘really serious trade-offs’.
‘There are always going to be people that are unhappy, but that’s the nature of it,’ they added.
‘Every single one of those departments with unprotected elements of their budget will be fighting hard.’ But time is running out, with Ms Reeves due to announce her first multi-year spending review on June 11.
While the health and defence budgets are protected, other departments are facing billions of pounds of cuts in day-to-day spending.
One government figure pointed out that the Office for Budget Responsibility said in March that the Government was on track to build an extra 1.3 million homes by 2029.
The source said this was due to planning reforms alone – suggesting money set aside in the housing budget was not key to meeting the target.
Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions have come under the spotlight this week after she sent a secret memo to the Chancellor arguing for tax rises instead of spending cuts.
Along with a series of tweaks to tax policy designed to raise around £3.5 billion, she also suggested stripping middle-class families of child benefit payments.
The Deputy PM recommended the Treasury ‘claw back’ the benefits from households where one person earned between £50,000 and £80,000.
It would reverse a change introduced by Tory former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, which meant that families where no parent had an income above £80,000 a year would be entitled to some child benefit.
He also raised the point at which families start losing the support from £50,000 to £60,000.
The memo, seen by The Daily Telegraph, said: ‘These two changes were forecast to cost £600 million a year, which could be saved if they were reversed on the grounds that they added to the welfare budget without being properly funded.’
Ms Rayner also proposed other ways to raise revenue by taxing the wealthy, rather than spending cuts hitting
the vulnerable. The ideas are popular with her allies on the Left of the party, but were seen as provocative by critics.
The timing of the leak also raised eyebrows in Westminster, coming amid a growing rebellion over welfare changes.
As many as 170 Labour MPs are threatening to avoid voting for welfare reforms when they come before the Commons next month.
A source close to Ms Rayner last night declined to comment on private spending discussions but rejected the suggestions being made.
They added that it was normal for ministers to make the case for departmental spending priorities during the review period.
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Angela Rayner is at war with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves over plans to slash her department’s budget, the Mail can reveal.
In a series of increasingly heated meetings, the Deputy Prime Minister is said to have complained ‘forcibly’ about proposals to squeeze spending on housing.
Ms Rayner, who this week sparked fevered speculation about her leadership ambitions, is set to be one of the biggest losers at next month’s comprehensive spending review.
Labour sources said she had confronted the Prime Minister and Chancellor about the plans in recent weeks but had got nowhere.
It is the latest sign of splits between Ms Rayner, Ms Reeves and Sir Keir – and comes just days after a leaked memo revealed the Deputy PM had urged the Chancellor to hike taxes on savers and high earners.
The leak sparked speculation that Ms Rayner could be positioning herself as a future leader from the Left of the party.
Housing Secretary Ms Rayner is tasked with delivering the manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
She reportedly threatened to resign over the ‘impossible’ target, it emerged last month, but now faces meeting it on an even smaller budget.
Angela Rayner is at war with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves over plans to slash her department’s budget, the Mail can reveal
In a series of increasingly heated meetings, the Deputy Prime Minister is said to have complained ‘forcibly’ about proposals to squeeze spending on housing
Ms Rayner, who this week sparked fevered speculation about her leadership ambitions, is set to be one of the biggest losers at next month’s comprehensive spending review. Pictured: Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
A Labour source told the Mail: ‘She is unhappy because she’s been screwed in the spending review.
‘The review is going to be a difficult moment for the whole Government but her department is being really squeezed.
‘She has made her views known forcibly in private because she has been set this very difficult housing target and feels like she is having the rug pulled out from under her.
‘But she has got nowhere so far and I think that is why you are seeing her signalling to Labour MPs that she doesn’t agree with some of the decisions being made on cuts.
‘It is not helpful behaviour and it’s probably not even in her own interests, but it is understandable.’
Downing Street sources say they are ‘sure’ Ms Rayner is on manoeuvres, and it emerged yesterday that her supporters have been quietly conducting ‘unauthorised focus groups’ to find out how she would fare in a leadership campaign.
The results suggest she needs to show she is a ‘serious politician’, according to The Guardian.
Along with funding to meet her housing target, Ms Rayner is also reportedly urging Ms Reeves to hike spending on social housing – but is facing resistance. Unlike some other departments, she is still locked in talks with the Treasury over the funding settlement, a separate source said.
Rayner is said to be furious about plans to cut housing spending and has demanded the chancellors hike taxes on higher earners
Another senior government figure said the spending review would be ‘f*****g hard’ and involved some ‘really serious trade-offs’.
‘There are always going to be people that are unhappy, but that’s the nature of it,’ they added.
‘Every single one of those departments with unprotected elements of their budget will be fighting hard.’ But time is running out, with Ms Reeves due to announce her first multi-year spending review on June 11.
While the health and defence budgets are protected, other departments are facing billions of pounds of cuts in day-to-day spending.
One government figure pointed out that the Office for Budget Responsibility said in March that the Government was on track to build an extra 1.3 million homes by 2029.
The source said this was due to planning reforms alone – suggesting money set aside in the housing budget was not key to meeting the target.
Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions have come under the spotlight this week after she sent a secret memo to the Chancellor arguing for tax rises instead of spending cuts.
Along with a series of tweaks to tax policy designed to raise around £3.5 billion, she also suggested stripping middle-class families of child benefit payments.
The Deputy PM recommended the Treasury ‘claw back’ the benefits from households where one person earned between £50,000 and £80,000.
It would reverse a change introduced by Tory former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, which meant that families where no parent had an income above £80,000 a year would be entitled to some child benefit.
He also raised the point at which families start losing the support from £50,000 to £60,000.
The memo, seen by The Daily Telegraph, said: ‘These two changes were forecast to cost £600 million a year, which could be saved if they were reversed on the grounds that they added to the welfare budget without being properly funded.’
Ms Rayner also proposed other ways to raise revenue by taxing the wealthy, rather than spending cuts hitting
the vulnerable. The ideas are popular with her allies on the Left of the party, but were seen as provocative by critics.
The timing of the leak also raised eyebrows in Westminster, coming amid a growing rebellion over welfare changes.
As many as 170 Labour MPs are threatening to avoid voting for welfare reforms when they come before the Commons next month.
A source close to Ms Rayner last night declined to comment on private spending discussions but rejected the suggestions being made.
They added that it was normal for ministers to make the case for departmental spending priorities during the review period.
