Express readers debate whether Angela Rayner would make a better PM than Keir Starmer?

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Angela Rayner has been making headlines in recent days after a leaked memo showed her calling for tax increases before this year’s Spring Statement. In the memo, the Deputy Prime Minister is understood to have urged the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes by £3bn to £4bn a year through various schemes.

It comes as Labour plans to make significant changes to personal independence payments (PIP), in a bid to curb welfare spending and enhance the Treasury’s bottom line. Many Labour MPs have publicly expressed their concern and anger over the proposed changes, with Rayner believed to be uncomfortable with substantial changes to the government’s approach to welfare. So what do you think? Vote in our poll and join the debate in the comments section. Can't see the poll below? Click here.

The incident represents the latest in a series of frictions between Rayner and Sir Keir Starmer, with the relationship between the two being strained at various points during the Prime Minister’s time leading the party.

Following Labour’s embarrassing 2021 by-election defeat in Hartlepool, Starmer was considering a dramatic resignation, with Rayner believed to have been in pole position to take his place.

According to extracts from Get In: The Inside Story of Labour, one of Rayner’s closest confidants revealed she was ready to launch a coup and said: “We could have taken him out there and then, without a shadow of a doubt.

“All of the unions were on board. We had Unite. We had the money. Momentum were lined up. We were done. We had a rally of 5,000 people ready to go.”

A friend of Rayner added: “They backed down because they realised if they wanted to go toe-to-toe, we’d have landed a nuclear missile on their faces.”

The incident represented a sliding doors moment, with Rayner likely to have taken the party in a different direction to Starmer had she been successful in her attempts to wrestle control of the Labour party.

She remains one of the favourites amongst bookmakers to succeed Keir Starmer should the top job become vacant at any point.

As one of the highest-profile Labour MPs and arguably one of the most popular members of the cabinet amongst grassroots party members, Rayner could yet be poised to one day take the keys to Number 10.