Angela Rayner has told how she was once given dog food to eat when she was a child because her mother could not read labels on tins.
The deputy leader of the Labour Party said she was also given 'jelly and shaving foam' because her mother 'used to look on the pictures' on products.
The 41-year-old set out her experiences of growing up in poverty and said that in 'modern times' she 'definitely' would have been taken away by social services.
Ms Rayner also revealed how she believes growing up in a 'chaotic' household helped prepare her to thrive in a post-Brexit Westminster.
Angela Rayner has told how she was once given dog food to eat when she was a child because her mother could not read labels on tins
The 41-year-old set out her experiences of growing up in poverty and said that in 'modern times' she 'definitely' would have been taken away by social services. She is pictured visiting the Ladywell Centre in Lewisham, London, on September 23
Ms Rayner opened up about her poverty-stricken upbringing on a council estate in Stockport, Greater Manchester, on the Full Disclosure podcast with James O'Brien.
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne left school aged 16 while pregnant with her first child.
Ms Rayner said in 'modern days' she and her siblings would 'definitely' have been taken into social services. Her mother, Lynn Bowen, suffered from mental health issues.
Asked if she was ever in danger of being taken away by social services, Ms Rayner said: ‘I think, you know what, in modern days, definitely we would have gone.
‘But my nana bought our uniform so she would take us to the charity shop to get our uniform.
‘My mum couldn’t cook. I mean everything went in a frying pan. It was chips and chips, chips and sausage, literally everything went in the frying pan.
‘My mum used to give us jelly and shaving foam because she used to look on the pictures. She didn't know what the food was in it.
‘You know, we had dog meat once because she thought it was stewing steak because she couldn’t read it.
‘We used to laugh about it and joke about it but in modern times we probably would have ended up in the system but because of my nana took a very keen interest… and she was there.’
Ms Rayner recounted how she and her siblings would go to her grandmother's house for a bath because hot water was 'too expensive'.
She said: ‘My nana, she was on hand. She worked like three jobs. She grafted.
‘My nana lived in high rise flats so we used to joke because we would go to my nana’s for a bath because she had hot water.
‘We didn't have hot water, it was too expensive, so we would traipse to my nana’s on a Sunday and all have a bath and we would go in rank order.
‘So my older brother would get the bath first, then my mum would get it and then me and my little sister would share the bath afterwards.’
Ms Rayner was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015 and she said she believes her background prepared her well for the political chaos in Westminster that followed the 2016 Brexit
