Labour’s Angela Rayner was quizzed on her alleged “leadership bid” to replace Starmer, just moments after a clash erupted over failed house building targets
Laura Kuenssberg gave Angela Rayner a grilling on her BBC show this morning as she demanded to know why house building appeared to have slowed dramatically since Labour came into power last summer. “You’ve been in charge ten months,” she accused, “[and] the number of houses being completed since you’ve been in charge have gone down!”
She reminded her of multiple bold statements she’d made, claiming in 2024 that there was “no time to waste” and in February, that there were “no excuses for not getting going”. Laura went in for the kill as she challenged: “You announced lots of changes and planning reform but it doesn’t seem to have had an impact on the confidence of the market.” Angela shot back that the current situation was inevitable as change “wasn’t going to happen overnight”, but said she was determined to go “further and faster”.
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Angela Rayner was quizzed over house building numbers slumping (Image: Getty)
“The OBR was confident in the reforms that we’ve made,” she stated, adding that she was enforcing rules: “If you don’t build those houses quickly, if you don’t get those spades in the ground, there will be penalties!”
Laura critiqued her version of events, insisting: “Numerous independent reviews have concluded that home builders don’t really sit on land…”
“It takes 14 years once planning applications have been approved for these sites to complete. 14 years is far too long!” Angela admitted in response.
However, she vehemently denied any suggestion that she had “threatened to resign” over the target – and she also denied the mounting rumours that she has her eye on replacing Keir Starmer and winning the “top job”.
Laura Kuenssberg challenged Angela Rayner over her claims (Image: BBC)
Asked whether she had any plans to run as leader either now or in the future, she insisted: “I do not want to run for leader of the Labour Party. I rule it out!”
She added that herself and Starmer were not “looking over each other’s shoulders” and were instead focusing on “rolling up their sleeves” and “working really hard for the people of this country”.
Angela claimed that they were overturning a “disastrous economy” following errors made by the previous government, and had secured three trade deals in a few weeks “that the Tories couldn’t get in 14 years”.
She struggled to convince Laura on either of her points, but insisted she had no interest in leading the party, declaring: This is the honour of my life to finally have an opportunity to build the council houses that we need, put money in working people’s pockets… those are our Labour values and I will support the Prime Minister in delivering them.”
It was subsequently claimed on the show that web domain names such as angelaforpresident.com had been purchased by a mysterious buyer – but that Angela had been adamant she wasn’t the one responsible.
