Angela Rayner reveals contents of the note passed to her in the Commons on day of Queen's death

Angela Rayner has recalled the moment she found out the Queen was gravely ill while she attended a debate in parliament.

On the day of the Queen's death, the Labour Party's Deputy Leader was seen being handed a note in the House of Commons, the contents of which she then had to relay to Labour leader Keir Starmer.

The note told her the Queen was ill at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and Ms Rayner said, "You don’t get a note saying the Queen is unwell if she just has a cough or cold, so I felt the gravity of it."

Speaking to Global's News Agents podcast, she added the note simply read: 'The Queen is unwell and Keir needs to leave the chamber as soon as possible to be briefed.’

Starmer later left the chamber with the prime minister, Liz Truss, who had been alerted to the situation by fellow MP Nadhim Zahawi.

The two had been debating the cost of living crisis when they received the news.

"I was trying to get the note to Keir without being too dramatic," said Rayner, "But it was only when I got the nod off Mr Speaker saying “this is actually quite urgent, don’t wait for the right opportunity” that I was able to hand it to him."

The Queen died later that day, with a public announcement at 6.30pm.

She was buried in a state funeral on Monday.