Chancellor Rachel Reeves battles tears as Starmer declines to back her

Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to cry in the Commons as Sir Keir Starmer declined to guarantee she would remain in place until the election.

The Prime Minister faced MPs after being forced to scrap key planks of his welfare reforms, leaving an almost £5 billion black hole in Ms Reeves’ spending plans and fuelling speculation she could be forced to hike taxes.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether the Chancellor would keep her job until the next election.

Sir Keir dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch “certainly won’t”.

The Tory leader said: “How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

Changes to restrict eligibility to the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday night to limit a Labour revolt, wiping out the savings that Ms Reeves had counted on to help meet her goal of funding day-to-day spending through tax receipts rather than borrowing.

Mrs Badenoch said the welfare reforms were designed “to plug a black hole created by the Chancellor” but “instead they’re creating new ones”.

She told Sir Keir: “Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence.

“In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”

Sir Keir responded with a defence of Labour’s record but no mention of the Chancellor’s position.

As the Chancellor left the Commons following the Prime Minister’s Questions session her sister Ellie Reeves took her hand in an apparent show of support.

Asked about Rachel Reeves’ tears, a spokesperson for the Chancellor said: “It’s a personal matter, which, as you would expect, we are not going to get into.

“The Chancellor will be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.”

Rachel Reeves has the Prime Minister’s “full backing”, Downing Street has said.

Asked why the Sir Keir Starmer did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith Ms Reeves, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “He has done so repeatedly.

“The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the Prime Minister’s full backing.

“He has said it plenty of times, he doesn’t need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.

“The Chancellor and the Prime Minister are focused entirely on delivering for working people.

“It’s thanks to the Chancellor’s management of the economy that we managed to restore stability, which has led to four interest rate cuts, wages rising faster than inflation and she recently delivered a spending review that invested in Britain’s national renewal.”

Asked whether the Prime Minister still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: “Yes.”

Read more at the Manchester Evening News:
Rachel Reeves in tears in Parliament as Sir Keir Starmer refuses to guarantee her job
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