Angela Rayner: Councils must meet housing targets

The interview with Rayner was part of the BBC’s 100 Women project.

The housing secretary, who is also deputy prime minister, is among those to feature on this year’s list of influential and inspiring women around the world, along with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch.

Badenoch – the first black woman to lead a major UK political party – has previously said she would rather people focus on political issues than her ethnicity or sex.

Asked if she was right and it was not a “big deal”, Rayner said: “Of course it’s a big deal because I do think that women face barriers, and I think women of colour face barriers as well.”

However, she added that “it doesn’t also detract from the skills that a person has”.

“I often get described as left school at 16 without any qualifications, and there’s so much more to me than being a woman or being working class.”

Asked if she would still be able to achieve what she has if she was a young person today in the face of struggling public services, stagnating wages and cost-of-living pressures, Rayner acknowledged it would be “a challenge” and “you have to have a bit of luck”.

But she said the government wanted to invest in state education “so that people have those opportunities that I had”.

Rayner added that as deputy prime minister she felt she had to do herself justice.

“I don’t want to let people down,” she said. “I’ve always had that fear. That’s what spurs me on.”