Angela Rayner admits Labour Government is 'deeply unpopular' as she urges ministers to keep their promises - including increasing the minimum wage for under-21s

By MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR Published: 22:00, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 22:09, 18 June 2026 Angela Rayner has hit out at the 'deeply unpopular' Government's record of broken promises as she warned that time is running out for Labour. The former Deputy Prime Minister admitted mistakes had been made such as over the cuts to Winter Fuel Payment, which had to be reversed. She also urged ministers to press ahead with plans to increase the minimum wage for under-21s, despite warnings that it risks fuelling the youth unemployment crisis. Her latest interventions will raise expectations that she hopes to return to Cabinet soon, having quit last year for underpaying tax on her seaside home, and could even join a future leadership contest. Ms Rayner told the Mirror that Thursday's by-election in Makerfield was 'a line in the sand moment' for Labour. She said the party had a 'limited time' to deliver the change that 'struggling' people want. 'It's not unreasonable of the voters to say: 'You said change, you said you were going to improve my life. My life's getting harder, it's not getting easier.' 'They want to see that we stick to our values and we make decisions based upon what we promised.' Labour's former Deputy Leader Angela Rayner in Makerfield on polling day Ms Rayner admitted it's 'hard to escape the feeling that the public have had towards' Sir Keir Starmer while his rival Andy Burnham is winning voters over with a 'new type of politics'. 'The Government has made some mistakes and are deeply unpopular. I think that we have to acknowledge that. You saw that come through in the local elections.' She said it was 'crushing' that people felt the Government had not been standing up for its values. And she urged ministers to implement the proposed removal of age bands in order to ensure 18 to 20-year-olds get the same minimum wages as over-21s. 'We made promises, we were elected on that mandate. I think we should work with the Low Pay Commission to deliver that.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.