Angela Rayner has been torn apart over her recent Radio 4 interview hours after she returned to the Labour cabinet. The newly appointed Housing Minister joined broadcaster Amol Rajan on his afternoon radio show, where he quizzed the politician about Labour’s pledge to build 1.5million homes before the next election. The promise to construct 1.5million homes over the five-year parliamentary term was a key part of Labour’s 2024 election manifesto.
When pressed about the likelihood of that pledge coming to fruition, the 46-year-old minister denied abandoning the commitment but, in the tense interview, admitted it was an unrealistic goal. She told listeners: “I’m not dropping it.
“I’m just saying that it is a really difficult stretch target. It’s like me saying I’m going to run the London Marathon in under five hours. That would be a real challenge for me, but I’d do it.” Rajan was quick to point out that the government had built fewer than 300,000 homes in its first two years, well short of the number needed to meet the 1.5million target over the next five years.
She insisted: “I am straight talking. You know, 1.5million homes is a difficult target; it was when I made the target, but I’m going to keep the target, and I’m not going to be defeated. And the one thing I will say is that people have underestimated me all my life. If you tell me that I can’t do something, I’ll go hell-bent to get it done.”
It didn’t take long before viewers flocked to social media to share their frustrations online. One user penned: “Angela Rayner’s Radio 4 interview this morning was a complete car crash. The Housing Minister all but confessed that Labour is about to let the country down and ditch another central election pledge.
“She tells us not to underestimate her. Yet the last time she held this belief, planning permissions for new homes crashed to their lowest level in more than a decade. She knows perfectly well they will fall miles short.”
The politician was reappointed as Housing Minister when Andy Burnham became PM (Image: Phil Lewis/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
Another agreed: “It’s really hard to underestimate Angela Rayner – the bar is pretty low.” A third echoed: “Admitting she won’t get the job done on day three is a PR disaster. Who is advising her?”
Ms Rayner was reappointed housing minister, a job she had resigned from in 2025 after a row over whether she had dodged stamp duty, when Andy Burnham became Prime minister on Monday (July 20).
