The Labour Party’s deputy leader made the remark to comedian Matt Forde on his podcast, The Political Party, three weeks ago. But her comments resurfaced when Labour MP Diane Abbott questioned her on social media.
Ms Abbott tweeted: “Is Angela suggesting a mandatory death sentence for suspected (but not convicted) ‘terrorists’?”
Under police guidelines, an officer can shoot but only if it’s absolutely necessary, proportionate and they honestly believe there is an imminent threat to life.
However, a Labour source told the BBC the deputy leader was not advocating going beyond existing guidelines or changing the current policy.
During the interview with Mr Forde, Ms Rayner was asked whether she considered herself as a “hard Left” or “soft Left” politician.
She said she would accept the latter, but not on all topics.
Ms Rayner continued: “On things like law and order, I’m like, quite hard-line, I’m like, you know, shoot terrorists and ask questions second.
“Sorry, is that the most controversial thing I have ever said?”
She went on to say she was more “radical” when it came to the economy and she could not be “pigeonholed”.
READ MORE: Angela Rayner humiliated as attack on Johnson’s new team backfires
Ms Rayner said: “The stories I tell about my childhood are for people to look at themselves and to be able to say ‘look at what we did, look at what we achieved when we’re in government, and look what we can do’.
“And we’ve seen that with our mayors, we’ve seen that with Steve [Rotheram], with Andy [Burnham], we’ve seen it with our members in local government, the difference we’ve made in when we’re in power.
“We make no difference when we’ve not in power, we’re just shouting from the sidelines.
“I’m sick of shouting from the sidelines, I bet you lot are too.
“We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute pile of banana republic, vile, nasty, Etonian, posh… piece of scum.”
Her speech was met with cheers and applause from supportive Labour members.
“I held back a little,” Ms Rayner added after catching her breath.
She added: “We have got to do better than this, not because of us, not because of the work we do, but because of the tremendously good work our local activists, councillors, mayors have done.
“Because our communities have been through so much and they absolutely b****y deserve better.
“Have a good night comrades, have a great conference, and get on that doorstep and bring us power.”
Express.co.uk has contacted Angela Rayner’s representatives for comment.
