ANGELA Rayner has been named Newcomer People’s Choice Award winner at the MP of the Year Awards.

Through the awards,The Patchwork Foundation highlights and acknowledges those MPs, nominated by individuals and grassroots community organisations, and subsequently picked by an independent panel of judges. that have excelled in representing such communities.

Ms Rayner said: “When I was first elected in 2015 I envisaged having a couple of years finding my feet on the backbenches. Fate had other ideas!

“To have been promoted so quickly was a huge honour and I’m truly grateful to the Patchwork Foundation for the recognition.

“Unfortunately people with my kind of background are still uncommon, not just at senior levels in the political sphere but in the House in general.

“The work of the Foundation is important in addressing this imbalance and making Parliament truly representative of the country it governs.”

The awards, sponsored by KPMG, were presented at Speaker’s House.

The Failsworth, Ashton and Droylsden MP also joined calls to close the gender pay gap with a pledge to end “girl jobs” and “boy jobs” as part of Equal Pay Day.

Ms Rayner said: “The Equal Pay Act was passed 47 years ago and it is unacceptable that in the 21st century the gender pay gap remains so wide.”

The Fawcett Society has made a number of recommendations that they believe could close the gap including mandatory reporting by firms on the pay gap in their companies.