On-message Angela Rayner shows Labour's campaign success at TV election debate

Angela Rayner stuck carefully to Labour messaging during the UK's second seven-party debate on Thursday night, as the party continues its "Ming vase" approach to campaigning.

The Labour deputy leader took part in a showdown with the Conservatives' Penny Mordaunt, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and Reform UK's Nigel Farage.

The seven senior figures took questions from the audience before they debated with each other, with topics including the NHS, education, immigration and VAT on private school fees.

Ms Mordaunt called Labour's planned tax raid on the independent school sector "crazy", saying the party "admitted this week class sizes will go up as a consequence", after shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said "it’s fine" if the country has larger classes in the short term as a result.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner, left, and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves at the launch of the party's general election manifesto. AP

“It’s crazy and it doesn’t serve anyone and it’s the kind of dogma that we need to keep out of the public sector," said Ms Mordaunt.

In response, Ms Rayner suggested private schools should minimise the impact on the state sector by absorbing the costs of the sales tax on fees.

Her comments came after a five-year-old clip surfaced this week, which appeared to show Ms Rayner calling for the abolition of private schools, vowing to “end the marketisation and privatisation of our education”.

Labour leader Keir Starmer - who was this week challenged on whether he was being careful to do nothing that might dent his 20-point poll lead - the so-called "Ming vase" strategy - has called the VAT policy a “tough choice”.

He said: “I do understand many parents saving and working hard to send their children to private school”, but “we have to fund our nurseries, we have to fund the teachers we need in our state secondary schools”.

Labour is keen to avoid mistakes which could affect its commanding lead in the polls, with one released just ahead of the debate, which put Labour on 37 per cent, with Reform at 19 per cent, ahead of the Conservatives for the first time on 18 per cent, the Liberal Democrats at 14 per cent, the Greens at 7 per cent, the SNP at 3 per cent, Plaid Cymru at 1 per cent and others at 2 per cent.

During the seven-way debate, Ms Rayner also trod carefully when addressing the contentious issues of tax rises, with Ms Mordaunt challenging her to rule out rises in capital gains, and ending arms sales to Israel.

Addressing the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, she said: "Stephen you know as well as I do that what happened on October 7 was barbaric and Israel had the right to defend itself. However, since then the absolute loss of innocent lives, thousands of innocent lives, everyone in the house, of all political persuasions, have been pushing for a ceasefire," she said.

Ms Rayner added: "But if we were in government, we would immediately review, as we've been asking the Conservatives, the legal advice on arm sales to Israel and we will comply with international law."

She called for a skills strategy, saying the country has been "over-reliant" on overseas workers to fill our skills gap, "and they’ve done a tremendous job in doing that and we have needed that, but what we really need is, as employment levels have gone higher again, is we need to really match those skills to give people opportunity to take those jobs".

Mr Farage said: “Well, it’s funny Angela Rayner says that because Labour today launched their six key priorities at the general election and didn’t mention the single most important issue affecting the lives of everybody in this country, namely the population explosion caused directly by migration.”

Ms Rayner, who took four questions from the parties during the debate, was also forced to defend accusations Labour is "timid".

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner with party leader Keir Starmer at the launch of a Freedom to Buy scheme with London Mayor Sadiq Khan. PA

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: "I would like to know from Angela: why so timid? Why wait for economic growth when you could introduce a tax that doesn't affect those on average incomes or lower incomes, it only affects the billionaires and multimillionaires?"

Ms Rayner hit back: "I have never been called timid in my life."

The pair were talking about Labour's tax plans, unveiled in the party's manifesto on Thursday.

Ms Rayner pointed to reforms rather than tax and spend as the solution to the UK's money woes and added: "We gutted our home care services, it costs so much more money now that people are stuck on trolleys in A&E for 40-hours plus.

"These are our elderly relatives that are treated really poorly and it costs us more money, so if we put the money in the right place, we can actually make savings."

'Poster girl'

In just three weeks' time, the working class poster girl could become one of the most prominent figures in British politics, following a meteoric rise through the party.

Born on a council estate in Stockport, near Manchester in one of the UK’s industrial heartlands, the 44-year-old politician left school at 16, pregnant and with no qualifications and, in her own words, was told she would "never amount to anything".

Famed for hitting the campaign trail in platform trainers, she embraces her working class roots.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner arrives to take part in the BBC Election Debate. PA

Her campaign literature heralds the fact she is “not an Oxbridge-educated, former special adviser, professional politician”, nor did she have a privileged upbringing or attend university.

Instead, she went to college and worked for the council as a carer for the elderly on zero-hour contracts.

In 2015, she became the first woman MP in the 180-year history of her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency and was soon promoted to the shadow whip’s office by then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and became one of the party’s most flamboyant front-benchers.

After holding the posts of shadow pensions minister and shadow education secretary, she was appointed deputy leader of the Labour Party in March 2020.

Ms Rayner plays a pivotal role for Labour in championing workers' rights and social justice and uses her personal experiences to help bridge the gap between the party and its traditional working class base.

Embodying the struggles of her supporters, the leadership is hoping the stark contrast between her and leader Keir Starmer will help attract lost voters.

With Mr Starmer being a stereotypical sombre-suited lawyer, who Ms Rayner has stored in her phone as Mr Darcy, the lawyer from Bridget Jones’s Diary, the pair are complete opposites, and even Ms Rayner admits he “smooths off her rough edges”.

On Thursday, he deferred to Ms Rayner, who was dressed in bright green trousers and a pair of white trainers, to open the launch of the party’s manifesto as she loudly promised to “start a new chapter" and create “hope” for the future.

UK general election campaigning – in pictures

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Five hymns the crowds can join in

Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday

Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir

Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium

‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song

‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar

‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion

‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope

The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’

There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia

The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ

They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening

Keane on …

Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”

Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”