Angela Rayner

“Politics changes lives. You would expect me, as a politician, to say that. But I don't say it as a politician: I say it as someone whose own life was changed.”

“Our higher education admissions process is neither fair nor effective.”

“School, for me, was not a place where you went to be educated, but a place where you got away from your parents for a couple of hours while they got some respite from you, and where you were able to see your mates.”

“Child poverty is more than an abstract problem to me. It's something I know all too much about.”

“One the reasons I talk about my story is I want other people who are in the circumstances I was in to understand they are just as good and as valuable as everyone else.”

“I've seen at first-hand what Labour Governments can achieve in power.”

“Mental health is a case study in Tory failure.”

“I've met many lesbian, gay and trans activists who've told me what they face, sometimes even within the school gates: hate crime, fear of discrimination, physical and verbal abuse, domestic violence and homelessness.”

“Half of those people who experience mental health difficulties do so before the age of 14. The problems begin early - so early interventions are essential.”

“I never thought I would get a degree of any type.”

“If people are going to be made worse off, the government should at least let them know. I don't think that's asking too much.”

“Mum grew up in Wythenshawe, one of 12. My mum didn't really go to school and didn't see the need for education, she got bullied so she excluded herself.”

“I mean getting into parliament was quite an achievement in itself and then I have to pinch myself at the thought of actually running a department.”

“We need radical, transformative solutions to address the inequality that is blighting millions of people's lives.”

“My mum didn't understand that education was an important thing. She couldn't do my homework with me. I was helping her read stuff. She once brought shaving soap thinking it was whipped cream.”

“If you want to underestimate me because I speak like a Mancunian, like the people I grew up with, then so be it at your peril.”

“Instead of helping a lucky few to escape disadvantage, a Labour government will aim to abolish poverty completely and create a more equal society, raising the living standards and well-being of all.”

“I do my best to be true to who I am.”

“My school, we affectionately nicknamed it Avonjail, but it was called Avondale, Avondale high school in Stockport. I left with no GCSEs above a D.”

“I believe Ofsted measures poverty. It measures deprivation. It doesn't measure excellence.”