Angela Rayner had the perfect comeback when Laura Kuenssberg tried to catch the deputy PM out over her new housing targets.
Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, was speaking to broadcasters to promote Labour’s plan to build 1.5 million more homes during this parliamentary term.
But, over on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC presenter said Rayner and Keir Starmer have been “firing off attacks” to those people who oppose their plans, calling them “naysayers and blockers”.
Rayner refused to name exactly who fell into that category, instead saying that any worries people had stemmed from issues within the system.
So Kuenssberg tried a different approach, and instead presented photos of Rayner in 2017 protesting as a local MP against further building developments in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne.
“In 2017, were you a naysayer and a blocker?” Kuenssberg said.
Rayner hit back: “Well we also had another site in Tameside which would have built the infrastructure would have delivered homes for people – actually, more homes for people – as opposed to the field they were going to build on.
“I think actually the local plans are incredibly important because then you can identify where you think those houses should be built locally.
“And then you can make sure developers build there, and you can make it a quicker process for them.
“So instead of them choosing sites that local people don’t want, local people would have said w want housing and developers would get a sweet spot because they will get the fast track if they build it there.
“And that’s what we are trying to do – push them to do what local people want, and to put the infrastructure in which local people desperately want as well.”
Kuenssberg just said: “Well, we will see how it transpires, because it’s an issue local people get very passionate about – local people, local politicians.”
This new housebuilding pledge is part of Starmer’s reset for the government.
Other “missions” include raising living standards in every part of the UK, ending hospital backlogs, recruiting 13,000 more “bobbies on the beat”, increasing the number of children in England who are “ready to learn” when they start school at 5, and putting the UK on track for at least 95% clean power by 2030.
