Cutting ribbons and furnishing tips, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner lands back in Ashton

The deputy Prime Minister took some downtime following a rigorous week of interviews over the government’s approach to cladding and right to buy to open a newly built housing development.

Although it wasn’t quite a DJ set in Ibiza, Angela Rayner seemed in good spirits as she spoke to new tenants of the latest affordable housing scheme to come to her home constituency of Ashton. Brickfields House, a newly completed development of 42 affordable rent homes for over 55s, is one of a number of schemes her Labour government want to see introduced in the next few years.

The Henrietta Street development, built by Southway Housing Trust in collaboration with Watson and BTP Architects, was given a ringing endorsement from the deputy PM with an official ribbon cutting.

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“Quite a small set of scissors,” Mrs Rayner joked as she was handed the comically large cutting implements. After a few dozen photographs the deputy PM took a tour around the new age-friendly, 21,800 square foot, development where she offered a few furnishing tips to the housing provider executives who flanked her.

It was a whistle-stop tour for the local MP who has faced huge media attention this week over her stance on the Right to Buy scheme. It was reported that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government wanted to scrap the scheme famously brought in by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Mrs Rayner has since claimed that she wants to reform the policy so that local authorities don’t lose out on the cash they put into social housing by having to sell them off at discounted rates. Following the release of the Grenfell report,