Meet the young Tory rising star ready to oust Angela Rayner and bring the fight to Labour

The young Tory rising star determined to oust Angela Rayner in Greater Manchester has accused Labour’s deputy leader of not “fighting” for her constituents.

Conservative candidate Lizzie Hacking is running against Labour’s deputy leader in the UK’s July 4 General Election.

Announcing her candidacy on X, the energetic politician said: “Delighted to have been selected as the Conservatives parliamentary candidate for Ashton-under-Lyne.

“A fight against Angela Rayner? Bring it on!”

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Ms Hacking, 30, who was born in Sussex but moved to Bootle, Merseyside as a child after her parents divorced, was raised by a single mother on a council estate in the North West of England.

Labour says Ms Rayner has been a “strong local champion for her community for nearly a decade”.

But Ms Hacking says Ms Rayner is more focused on blaming the Tory government for problems in her constituency than fighting for those she represents.

She told the Express: “Angela is obsessed with attacking the Tories instead of championing her constituents.”

Ms Hacking’s council estate upbringing mirrors her Labour rival’s in many ways.

But the young Conservative parliamentary candidate, who has a background working in education, chose a very different path after becoming disillusioned with the prevailing attitudes of some on her estate feeling the state owed them something.

Now, she wants to highlight how education can be a means of bringing people up in society and is working on developing major policies in the area.

She said: “I want to show people the path of education is a way to be lifted into prosperity and show people how to achieve better life outcomes.

“As the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, I would bring aspiration and opportunity to constituents, rather than pushing the blame onto others for poor outcomes in the area.”

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Council sources in Ashton-under-Lyne say Ms Rayner is “nervous” about losing her seat.

The outspoken Labour frontbencher has a relatively small majority of roughly 4,200 votes (11%).

She was recently videoed appealing directly to Muslim voters over her party’s vexed stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict – an issue which has dogged the party since Hamas’s horrific October 7th terror attack on the Israeli people.

Ms Rayner reassured voters in Asthon that her party would recognise the state of Palestine – something Sir Keir Starmer looks set to confirm when the party makes its official offer to the British public in the Labour manifesto.

It is not only local sentiment over geopolitical matters threatening Ms Rayner, who is also Shadow Levelling Up Secretary.

Issues much closer to home such as improving outcomes in housing and providing better local services are likely to be of concern for Ms Rayner.

Asthon council received £19.9million in levelling-up funding in 2021 but since then “nothing has happened”, Ms Hacking said, pointing to the fact a spade is yet to go into the ground. Ms Hacking said: “It’s a joke.”

Ms Rayner has been focussing on Labour’s national campaign by taking part in high-profile media events such as its battle bus launch last weekend and the BBC’s televised seven-way debate on Friday. 

Ms Hacking is hoping to capitalise on Ms Rayner’s absences to make her pitch to the people of Asthon, which was a Brexit-voting area meaning Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform UK is a credible threat there too.

Mr Farage's party is currently polling ahead of Ms Hacking at roughly 18%, with the Conservatives at about 15% and Ms Rayner at roughly 60%.

A Labour spokesperson said: "Angela is proud to have been a strong local champion for her community for nearly a decade and has repeatedly called out the Conservatives’ broken promises on levelling up.

“Meanwhile, Lizzie Hacking is a Tory councillor from rural Sussex with no known connection to Ashton-under-Lyne.”