Angela Rayner torn apart on Laura Kuenssberg as BBC viewers blast Labour over freebies
The Deputy PM was slammed by furious BBC viewers this morning as she was scrutinised over Labour's freebie scandal.
Laura Kuenssberg shows Angela Rayner viewers' frustrations
Angela Rayner was subjected to a brutal onslaught of voter fury this morning, as Laura Kuenssberg read out viewers’ angry thoughts on the ongoing Labour freebie row.
On the morning of their party conference, Ms Rayner was told by one viewer that the acceptance of luxury goodies from donors is “morally indefensible”.
Meanwhile a Labour member voiced heartbreak that Labour is proving “no different” to the Conservatives now in office.
The confrontation came as Ms Rayner herself was accused of breaching House of Commons rules by failing to declare that a friend accompanied her on a holiday to Manhattan, paid for by Lord Alli.
Mid-interview Ms Kuenssberg told the deputy Prime Minister: “I want to let you know how angry some of our viewers have been over this last week.
“Wendy emailed us to say: ‘It's extraordinary behaviour to accept clothing donations when the government feels justified to remove winter fuel payments to pensioners’.
“Eileen said: ‘It's morally indefensible for politicians to be doing this’.
“Peter called you the ‘goody party’; and Clive, who was a Labour Party member, said: ‘I find it I deeply disappointing that Labour seems no different to the Tories when it comes to freebies’.”
A shocked Ms Rayner was then asked whether the donors handing over the freebies were promised anything in return.
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The Housing secretary bluntly replied: “I promised nothing and gave him nothing in return”.
She claimed her donors give her free gifts on account of coming from a working class background and “saying it how it is”.
However, she could not say who gave Lord Alli an access-all-areas pass to Downing Street following their election victory.
Ms Rayner also argued that, far from breaching Commons rules around declaring donations, she had in fact been “overly transparent”.
She argued: “It was a personal holiday and I think I followed the rules, in fact I went above that and I wanted to do that to be transparent about the connection I had of the use of that apartment.
“I don’t believe I broke any rules.”
