Rachel Reeves insists she is ‘cracking on with the job' after Commons upset
She told broadcasters: 'Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I'm not going to go into the details of that.
'My job as Chancellor at 12 o'clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the Prime Minister, supporting the Government and that's what I tried to do.
'I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers' is that when I'm having a tough day it's on the telly and most people don't have to deal with that.'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (right) crying as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)
The Chancellor rejected suggestions that her tears were related to a conversation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle or another member of Government.
'People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job,' she added.
Sir Keir gave a full-throated defence of his Chancellor, and said he had not appreciated how upset she was while he was focused on the cut and thrust of Parliament's most-viewed weekly event.
On Thursday, the Chancellor appeared alongside the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Wes Streeting as the Government launched it's 10-year plan for the NHS in London.
Ms Reeves made no mention of Wednesday's incident in the Commons as she made her first public appearance since crying in the chamber.
Smiling as she spoke at a health centre in London, the Chancellor insisted the NHS plan was 'good for the health of our nation and good for the health of our nation's finances'.
She also stopped to take selfies with nurses and other healthcare staff who were gathered for the launch.
Sir Keir and Ms Reeves embraced as he made his way to the podium to give a speech after the Chancellor had finished.
The Prime Minister poured praise upon her in an open show of unity, hailing the decisions made by the Chancellor as playing a part in the Government investing 'record amounts in the NHS'.
Sir Keir said he did not 'appreciate' that Ms Reeves was crying behind him at PMQs as the event is 'pretty wired'.
'It goes from question to question and I am literally up, down, question, looking at who is asking me a question, thinking about my response and getting up and answering it,' he said.
Sir Keir added: 'It wasn't just yesterday. No prime minister ever has had side conversations in PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there is a bit more time, but in PMQs it is bang, bang, bang, bang.
'That is what it was yesterday and therefore I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber.'
As the Prime Minister took questions from the media, several journalists invited Ms Reeves to comment on her tears, but only Sir Keir answered.
Earlier, the Prime Minister said all people could be caught 'off guard' by their emotions, but the Chancellor had to deal with it while on camera in Parliament.
He said she was doing an 'excellent' job, would remain in place beyond the next general election, and that they were both absolutely committed to the Chancellor's 'fiscal rules' to maintain discipline over the public finances.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (left), Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) and Health Secretary Wes Streeting (second left) at the launch of the Government's 10-year health plan (Jack Hill/The Times)
UK Government bonds rallied and the pound steadied on Thursday, after reassurances from the Prime Minister about the Chancellor's future.
The sight of her in tears on Wednesday, and the £5 billion black hole in her public spending plans as a result of the welfare U-turn had spooked the markets, triggering a sharp sell-off of bonds, with the yield seeing the sharpest increase since US President Donald Trump's tariff plans shook up financial markets in April.
Back in the Commons chamber, Commons Leader Lucy Powell defended her 'friend' Ms Reeves, and said 'she's got more class than most of the rest of the members opposite on the frontbench'.
Leadership is hard. There are good days, some very good, and bad days, some very bad. The resilience you need for top jobs is superhuman.
But if a Chief Exec cried in public, if a military chief said they hadn't read the operational plan properly because they had a bad day,…
— Claire Coutinho (@ClaireCoutinho) July 3, 2025
The Conservatives meanwhile suggested Ms Reeves' public show of emotion was not acceptable.
In a post on X shared by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said: 'Leadership is hard. There are good days, some very good, and bad days, some very bad. The resilience you need for top jobs is superhuman.
'But if a chief exec cried in public, if a military chief said they hadn't read the operational plan properly because they had a bad day, they would not be forgiven for it.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Labour's 10-year health plan for the NHS is bold, radical
The government's 10 Year health plan to revive, modernise and future-proof the NHS in England – has arrived as the service is facing a dual crisis. It has been unable for a decade now to provide the rapid access – to GPs, A&E care, surgery, ambulances and mental health support – which people need and used to get. Normalisation of anxiety-inducing, frightening and sometimes fatal delay has produced a less tangible, but also dangerous, crisis – of public satisfaction, born of a profound loss of trust that the NHS will be there for them or their loved ones when they need it. Barely one in five people in Britain are happy with the NHS. Polling by Ipsos this week, ahead of the NHS's 77th birthday on Saturday, found that about 60% of voters have seen little improvement in it during Labour's first year in office. About the same proportion do not expect things to be much better by the time of the next election in 2029. It is hyperbole to say, as the plan does, that 'the NHS now stands at an existential brink'. The dissatisfaction with access problems is acute – but behind it lies enduring public support for the service itself. However, it is no wonder Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting have acknowledged the seriousness of the patient's condition and diagnosed radical surgery. It is blindingly obvious that, as the plan says: 'The status quo is no longer an option.' The authors of the 168-page document have produced a serious, detailed and impressive piece of work. It is unsparing in describing the many failings that mean the NHS is not just often frustrating for patients to use but also ill equipped to deal with the relentless demand for care created by an ageing, growing and increasingly unhealthy population, which is unlikely to fall soon. It also charts a new course for a service so indispensable that it is part of the nation's DNA. Labour's repeated claim that the Conservatives had left the NHS 'broken' helped win them last year's general election. And it has allowed the party during its time in government to blame the service's every dysfunction – staff shortages, overcrowded hospitals, inadequate mental health care – on its predecessors. But that time is over. The plan implicitly acknowledges that this narrative, a frequent refrain by Streeting, is no longer enough. After a year in power, this is Labour's prescription for how it will nurse the patient back to health. This – progress on delivering the planned transformation – is now a legitimate yardstick by which to judge Labour's stewardship of the nation's most treasured institution. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The plan is as bold and radical as Streeting insists. But its key objectives – 'three big shifts' in the NHS's modus operandi from analogue to digital, treatment to prevention and hospital to community-based care – are familiar. They have been the stuff of previous NHS plans, and multiple inquiries, for decades – much promised, but rarely delivered. For example, the planned network of new 'neighbourhood health centres', with teams of health professionals and patient-friendly long opening hours, are very similar to the 'Darzi centres' proposed by the last Labour administration, of which few actually opened. Streeting does not pretend that the job of transformation will be easy. But there is a daunting array of obstacles to overcome. Will money needed to temporarily 'double run' old and new services during the transition be found? Will staff used to working in hospitals prove willing to switch to community settings? Will the gamble on technology pay off? Will the plan's failure to include big shifts to improve public health – such as mandatory reformulation of food or minimum unit pricing of alcohol – mean that the tidal wave of often-avoidable illness continues to outrun the NHS's ability to treat it? And will the decision to shed half of NHS England's 15,300 staff during its merger with the Department of Health and Social Care mean that Streeting does not have enough progress-chasers to ensure his tablets of stone are yielding real change? But the greatest risk Streeting faces is time. Alan Milburn, health secretary under Tony Blair and now Streeting's chief adviser, admitted later that the 2000 NHS plan bought him time to rescue the service from the derelict state his predecessors had left it in. But the often snail-like pace of previous NHS reforms suggests that, despite Labour having four more years in power, even that may not be enough for this plan to produce real, tangible benefits – changes to waiting times and the convenience of interacting with the NHS that patients notice. Voters keen to see 'our NHS' restored and improved may need to temper their expectations of rapid change, and ministers may have to do so too.
Rhyl Journal
42 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Ex-Labour MP says she will set up new party with Jeremy Corbyn
Zarah Sultana – who had the Labour whip suspended last year – said she was resigning from Sir Keir Starmer's party and would 'co-lead the founding of a new party' with the ex-Labour leader. In a statement posted on X, Ms Sultana, who represents Coventry South, said that the project would also involve 'other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country'. Today, after 14 years, I'm resigning from the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other Independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country. Join us. The time is now. Sign up here to stay updated: — Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) July 3, 2025 She said that 'Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper' and the 'two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises'. She added: 'A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 400,000 children out of poverty. I'd do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I'd do it again. Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can't decide how much.' She urged people to 'join us'. Ms Sultana was one of seven MPs who had the Labour whip suspended last summer when they supported an amendment to the King's Speech which related to the two-child benefit cap. Four of the seven had the whip restored earlier this year but Ms Sultana was not among them. Mr Corbyn led Labour from 2015 to April 2020, stepping down after the party's loss at the 2019 general election. He was suspended from Labour in 2020 after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission's findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge, and said antisemitism had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons'. He was blocked from standing for Labour at last year's general election and expelled in the spring of 2024 after announcing he would stand as an independent candidate in his Islington North constituency, which he won with a majority of more than 7,000. Last year Mr Corbyn formed the Independent Alliance with other independent members of the Commons. Asked on ITV's Peston programme on Wednesday whether that group could turn into an official party, Mr Corbyn said that they have 'worked very hard and very well together' over the last year in Parliament. "That grouping [of Independents] will come together, there will be an alternative" Ex Labour Leader @jeremycorbyn says he is "here to serve the people" as he outlines plans for a new party #Peston — Peston (@itvpeston) July 2, 2025 He added: 'There is a thirst for an alternative view to be put.' 'That grouping will come together, there will be an alternative,' he later said. Responding to Ms Sultana's statement, a Labour spokesperson said: 'In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions. 'Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'We all struggle' - Constituents back Reeves over Commons tears
Images of Rachel Reeves crying in the House of Commons on Wednesday have been dissected by political commentators across the after the chancellor put her tears down to "a tough day" what do voters in her Leeds West constituency think of their MP's very public display of emotion? Nick Simpson, 40, said it was "hard to see" Reeves being so visibly upset in public."We understandably demand a lot from our politicians, but we all can relate to struggling a bit sometimes, especially at work," he said."You need to have a cry every now and again, as you feel better afterwards and I can't remember a situation where I felt worse after crying and so I hope she feels better."Reeves did not say what caused her tears as she appeared with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to unveil the government's 10-year plan for the NHS on said she had been dealing with "a personal issue", adding that "today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job."She said: "My job as chancellor at 12 o'clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government and that's what I tried to do." Kevin Lobley, from Leeds, agreed that she didn't have to share the reason for being upset, as "if she wants to cry then it's none of our business really"."I have some sympathy with her to a point, if there is something personal going on," he said. Meanwhile, Sarah Kilner said that while everybody has bad days at work, there are different ways to handle said: "I think it is really bizarre that an MP would be in such a state in that setting, but they do have a personal life so she doesn't have to let us know why."If I was at work and I was having a bad day, I wouldn't expect to have to tell anybody, but I also would try not to let anybody know." Couple Tommy and Shirley Horner had mixed feelings about seeing a politician share her emotions so Horner said he was "shocked" to see it in Parliament, as "in there they are supposed to have this calmness and be in touch with everything".But Mrs Horner felt sympathy when she saw Reeves crying and "felt terrible for her personally"."There was nobody comforting her when she was clearly crying, what's wrong with that, we're all human beings and we shouldn't be like that with each other," she said. Katie White, Labour MP in the neighbouring constituency of Leeds North West and a friend of the chancellor, said Reeves has been facing "an incredible amount of pressure", especially after the government's controversial universal credit and personal independence payment bill passed its second reading on said: "We all have difficult days, that's totally normal, it's human, and I think people sometimes forget that politicians, especially those at the top of their game, are human and are balancing life in the way we are all balancing life."There is an incredible amount of pressure on Rachel and those at the top of government. It's a difficult job trying to change the country, and it's right that there are tensions as it's hard to do this and there are difficult choices ahead, but we'll move forward as we've got strong leadership." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
