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Well, very good morning to you both. As you rightly say, we are in Angela Rayner's constituency
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this morning. Now, Ashton Underline is a traditional, working-class, hard-working British town
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As you can see right there behind me, they are very proud here to be British. And of
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course, the reason we're here this morning is because of this alleged secret memo from
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the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, before the spring statement to the Chancellor
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Rachel Reeves. Now, that memo was entitled alternative ways to raise revenue in which
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she proposed rather than making cuts to things like welfare, that instead we that instead
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of apologies, some distraction here, that instead of making those cuts, that we instead
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boost taxes from three billion to four billion pounds each year. Now, of course, in their
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election manifesto, the Labour Party made certain promises around taxes. And that's something
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that the Chancellor says she's determined to keep and instead making cuts
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Now, we're here this morning in Angela Rayner's constituency finding out what people feel about this secret memo
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in which she proposed increase to taxes. We spoke to two local residents, pensioners Margaret and Kenneth
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and they summed up their feelings about the Deputy Prime Minister and the proposed raise to taxes really rather simply
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Rubbish. What do you make of her then as the Deputy Prime Minister
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Do you trust her? No. Why not? I think she a load of rubbish She doesn do anything for Ashton Bad enough that we lost her allowance for the heating The fuel allowance The fuel allowance
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Yeah. They could have halfed it. If there's two people in a house, you both get it
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What they could have done is only one get it. At least you're getting something
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Let me ask you then, you said you're both in your 80s. How does it make you feel that the government are essentially targeting
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in things that you've worked for your whole life. Terrible. It's just like a rabble
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I've lost faith in all politics. Now, we have to say, of course, Angela Rayner would dispute
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much of what Kenneth and Margaret had to say there. And, of course, on the other side of the coin
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some people, I'm not sure how many, might welcome what Angela Rayner was proposing
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For example, people who might not be affected by what she suggested, the impact on stamp duty on commercial properties, for example
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or bringing back in the pensioner's lifetime allowance. Those people who might not be affected by that, but would perhaps be affected by the
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Chancellor's proposed cuts to things like welfare. So there are some people out there who may prefer what Angela Rayner was suggesting
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However, the real crux of the issue is that this secret memo, was Angela Rayner perhaps
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reneging on promises made by the Labour Party. I think that concern is what's really going to stick in the craw
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not just hearing Ashton underlined, but for people and voters all around the UK this morning
