{"id":401634,"date":"2025-09-06T03:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T03:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401634\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T03:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T03:32:16","slug":"its-always-southern-posh-voices-angela-was-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401634\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s always southern, posh voices \u2013 Angela was different’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helena Vesty reports from Ashton-under-Lyne in the hours after Angela Rayner resigned as deputy Prime Minister, and most people agreed on one thing<\/p>\n

18:01, 05 Sep 2025Updated 22:47, 05 Sep 2025<\/p>\n

The \u2018knives have been out from the start\u2019 for the woman from Stockport who has, willingly or not, become a polemic politician, say Tameside voters(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Whether it’s her accent, hair colour, fashion choices, or her past, Angela Rayner has been a divisive figure in government.<\/p>\n

This afternoon, in the MP\u2019s constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, all those characteristics were up for conversation \u2013 but not debate.<\/p>\n

The very-recently-former deputy Prime Minister should face the consequences if she has broken the law, Tameside<\/a> voters said.<\/p>\n

But in the hour after news broke that Ms Rayner would no longer hold the second-most senior office in the country, most of the people the Manchester Evening News spoke to agreed on one thing: The \u2018knives have been out from the start\u2019.<\/p>\n

Get news, views and analysis of the biggest stories with the daily Mancunian Way newsletter – sign up <\/strong>here<\/a><\/p>\n

Her resignation on Friday (September 5) kickstarted a major cabinet reshuffle after an investigation found she breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.<\/p>\n

The row over her tax escalated in recent days over the Ashton-under-Lyne MP’s purchase of an \u00a3800,000 seaside apartment in Hove, East Sussex.<\/p>\n

The Labour<\/a> MP admitted failing to pay \u00a340,000 in stamp duty, prompting an independent investigation into her tax affairs.<\/p>\n

Today, a report by ethics watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus said she did breach the ministerial code. However it added Ms Rayner had ‘acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service’.<\/p>\n

Neighbouring Manchester Central<\/a> MP Lucy Powell was the first casualty of reshuffle now following, having been sacked as Leader of the Commons.<\/p>\n

Former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner (right) and former Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell (left)(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

And in Ashton<\/a> town centre, in the moments after the news broke, many mourned losing women \u2018like us\u2019 at the centre of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe became the poster girl for the working class,\u201d said 40-year-old Kate, sitting on a bench in Ashton town centre with a toddler in a pram.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngela, and Lucy Powell, coming from the places they do and holding two of the highest offices \u2013 that felt like huge progress. They smashed a glass ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Angela, in particular, she never made the effort to change and why should she? Your accent is a big deal in that job.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did work her way up and has shown what you can achieve \u2013 but it\u2019s a double edged sword. People attacked her for the way she looked, her family, her voice. If you\u2019re going to criticise her, do it about her politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just feels like the knives were out from the start. Once this story broke, she was always going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandy Marland, 59(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were always going to get her on something,\u201d agreed mother-and-daughter-in-law Many and Laura Marland.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has been treated unfairly over the years. She\u2019s straight talking but gets a big backlash in comparison to other politicians who have done similar things.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was one of the people who is really humble, working class, and relatable. It is unfortunate this happened, it does feel like there\u2019s a real north-south divide she suffered because of.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, the 29-year-old and 59-year-old agree, Ms Rayner had to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe does deserve what is happening to her here,\u201d they say. \u201cIf it was us, we\u2019d have to go through the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of working class mums have to pay taxes and get it all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right decision,\u201d added retired newspaper compositor Peter, 82, as he was shopping in Ashton town centre. \u201cIf we\u2019d have fiddled tax we\u2019d be hounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd many of us couldn\u2019t have afforded to get so much advice, we all must obey the law, whether that\u2019s speeding offences or stamp duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up to the MEN Politics newsletter Due North here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms Rayner \u2013 who was also the Housing Secretary until today \u2013 admitted on Wednesday she did not pay enough stamp duty on the second home.<\/p>\n

She said she was advised by a conveyancer and two experts in trust law that the amount of stamp duty she paid on the pad was correct, and that she acted on the advice she was given at the time.<\/p>\n

But in a twist, the lawyers Ms Rayner blamed for her underpayment denied having given her tax advice.<\/p>\n

In her resignation letter, Rayner told the Prime Minister that she ‘deeply regrets her decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice’ and took ‘full responsibility for this error’ as she resigned as deputy Prime Minister, Housing Secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer told Rayner ‘you will remain a major figure in our party’ and will ‘continue to fight for the causes you care so passionately about’.<\/p>\n

She will continue to serve as Ashton-under-Lyne MP from Labour’s backbenches.<\/p>\n

Steve Royales, 62(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got caught out,\u201d said 62-year-old Steve Royales, who has just moved back to Mossley after 20 years in Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company she supposedly used for advice refuted her claims, but they\u2019re probably covering themselves as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re the deputy Prime Minister, you err on the side of caution. She just didn\u2019t have a leg to stand on in such a senior position. She was pushed into a corner, but she put herself there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For 40-year-old Laura, from Tameside, the circumstances are \u2018unfair\u2019 but she \u2018understands\u2019 why Ms Rayner had to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think she did it deliberately, I do think she was advised, and from her background she always seems like a genuine MP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all make mistakes, don\u2019t read things properly or ignore things sometimes, maybe because we\u2019ve not had appropriate advice, or because we just don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do understand the decision. Because of her position, people use her as a role model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura, 40(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Ms Rayner has been that beacon for another Angela \u2013 Angela Rhodes. The 67-year-old \u2018born and bred in Ashton\u2019, is a blood cancer survivor.<\/p>\n

Ms Rhodes says she got in touch with her MP as she faced a five-year battle to get a \u00a34,500 benefits refund from the Department of Work and Pensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngela [Rayner] fought to get me those benefits back, and that meant so much to me. She wrote me a personal letter from the House of Commons and within a week, the money I\u2019d spent five years trying to get back was in my bank account thanks to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI voted for her and I support her. It feels like she can\u2019t do anything without getting hated for it, other people have got away with similar things and not had to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s the stronger figure in comparison to Keir, but everybody does have to follow the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel Pearce, 36, also had direct experience of Ms Rayner as her MP. The former deputy Prime Minister helped Rachel when she was struggling to get refurbishments to her affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like her, and I think this is unfair,\u201d said Rachel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice having someone like us there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela Rhodes, 67(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The cabinet reshuffle, so far, has spelled a drastic lurch away from the north, as Lucy Powell and Angela Rayner are sidelined. And it hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed in Ashton-under-Lyne.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know his \u2018father was a toolmaker\u2019, but Keir looks and sounds like everyone else in the House of Commons,\u201d said 40-year-old mum Kate, rocking her pram back and forth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Queen died, everyone we heard from on the news just sounded southern and posh. Then you heard the speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and it was a complete breath of fresh air \u2013 someone with a senior position who still reflected us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngela didn\u2019t fit the narrative. Maybe that counted against her for some people. But will the person who replaces her as deputy Prime Minister just sound like everybody else?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helena Vesty reports from Ashton-under-Lyne in the hours after Angela Rayner resigned as deputy Prime Minister, and most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[106353,1379,279,748,1285,393,4884,38034,2465,1286,285,1170,1290,1288,1026,1289,16,15,1287],"class_list":{"0":"post-401634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-angela-rayner-mp","9":"tag-ashton-and-mossley","10":"tag-bolton","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-bury","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-lucy-powell-mp","16":"tag-manchester","17":"tag-oldham","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-rochdale","20":"tag-salford","21":"tag-stockport","22":"tag-tameside","23":"tag-trafford","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-wigan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115155248761353546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}