No 10 says Starmer backs Reeves after Chancellor's tears in Commons
But allies said she was dealing with a 'personal matter' and No 10 said she had Sir Keir's 'full backing'.
Sir Keir, who stumbled on his way out of Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions, faced questions over his handling of a welfare reform package which has been stripped of key elements to limit the scale of a Labour revolt.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked 'absolutely miserable' and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether she 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'.
Changes to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday just 90 minutes before MPs voted on them, 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: 'Today the Prime Minister refused to back his Chancellor, leaving her humiliated.
'She is the human shield for his expensive U-turns. How can anyone be a chancellor for a man who doesn't know what he believes and who changes his mind every other minute?'
As the Chancellor left the Commons after Prime Minister's Questions her sister, Ellie Reeves, took her hand in an apparent show of support.
Asked about her tears, a spokesman 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.'
Reports suggested Ms Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle shortly before Prime Minister's Questions.
A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: 'No comment.'
Asked why Sir Keir did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Ms Reeves, the Prime Minister's press secretary told reporters: 'He has done so repeatedly.
Govt was planning to save ~£5bn in 2029-30 through welfare cuts – would have risen to ~£11bn in long run
Now, govt will save nothing this parliament
(2029-30 savings from cutting health element of UC (£1.7bn) roughly offsets cost of raising basic UC (£1.8bn))
— Helen Miller (@HelenMiller_IFS) July 2, 2025
'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.'
Asked whether the Prime Minister still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: 'Yes.'
Labour has promised that income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT will not be increased, restricting Ms Reeves' options for raising money if she does look to hike taxes.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies' incoming director, Helen Miller, said: 'Since departmental spending plans are now effectively locked in, and the Government has already had to row back on planned cuts to pensioner benefits and working-age benefits, tax rises would look increasingly likely.
'This will doubtless intensify the speculation over the summer about which taxes may rise and by how much.'
Sir Keir declined to rule out tax rises later this year, telling MPs: 'No prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.'
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Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
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Powys County Times
3 hours ago
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Steve Coogan says ‘disappointing' Labour year will ‘pave the way' for Reform UK
Actor Steve Coogan has said he understands why people would vote for Reform UK instead of Labour as he described their first year in Government as 'disappointing'. The 59-year old actor and comedian, who recently starred in The Penguin Lessons, reportedly supported the Labour Party in previous elections until last year, where he backed the Green Party. Speaking to The Guardian, Coogan said the current Labour Government is 'no different from a Conservative government in neglecting ordinary people'. 'What they're doing is putting Band-Aids on the gash in the side of the Titanic,' he said. 'The success of Reform, I lay squarely at the feet of the neoliberal consensus, which has let down working people for the last 40 years and they're fed up. It doesn't matter who they vote for, nothing changes for them. 'They'll pave the way for the only alternative, which is a racist clown. Reform (UK) couldn't organise a p*** up in a brewery, but if there's no alternative, you understand why working people will make that choice.' This comes after the Labour Government marked one year since winning the 2024 general election. Coogan added: 'It's not just the fact that people are disempowered and feel like they have no autonomy. It's compounded by the fact that these people, these multinationals, are enabled and supported by the Government to keep their foot on the neck of working people. 'If any government wants to address that extremism, what they have to do is tackle the root cause…(which is) poverty and economic decline in the post-industrial landscape, especially in the North. 'If Labour addressed that problem, Reform would go away – all their support would dissipate.' Coogan also said he agreed 'wholeheartedly' with MP Zarah Sultana's statement shared on Thursday which said the Government had failed to 'improve people's lives' and that the 'two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises'. Ms Sultana also announced that she was quitting the Labour Party to co-lead a left-wing alternative with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Coogan is best known for portraying Alan Partridge, a persona which pokes fun at British broadcasters, having appeared in several TV series as well as the 2013 feature film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
