Career
Educated at Avondale School, Stockport, Angela Rayner (née Bowen) worked for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker before being elected as a UNISON union representative. After serving as Convenor of UNISON North West, Rayner was selected as the Labour candidate for Ashton-under-Lyne at the 2015 general election, which she contested successfully by increasing Labour"s majority and share of the vote in the constituency. She delivered her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 3 June 2015.
The Guardian featured Rayner at length in 2012 by way of example of a trade union officer"s working life, when she was UNISON Branch Secretary on Stockport Council.
She has three sons, the first of whom was born when she was aged 16: Charlie was born very prematurely at 23 weeks and she uses the care he received as a mark of the importance of the National Health Service and educational policy.
