Reeves in tears as Starmer fails to back her at PMQs

The Herald Scotland

7 hours ago

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.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was in tears in the Commons as Sir Keir Starmer failed to back her to remain in place until the election.
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'.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was left in floods of tears in the Commons on Wednesday. (Image: PA) 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.
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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 replied by suggesting that Mrs Badenoch herself 'certainly won't' remain as Conservative leader, adding: 'I'm always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.'
The Prime Minister did not directly comment on Ms Reeves's position.
Mrs Badenoch noted: "How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn't confirm she would remain in place."
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.
After Prime Minister's Questions, the Prime Minister's press secretary said Rachel Reeves 'is going nowhere' as Chancellor and retains the Prime Minister's 'full backing'.
Asked about Ms Reeves' tears, a spokesman for the Chancellor said it was a 'personal matter'.
Earlier, Pat McFadden said taxes on 'working people' will not rise, but he left the door open to other types of revenue raising.
Mr McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Times Radio that Labour would stick by its promise not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT on 'working people'.
He said: 'This is a decision that will have financial consequences. The process of the last couple of weeks does have financial consequences. They will all be taken together with all the other moving parts that there are in the economy and the fiscal picture of the budget. And that will be set out at the time.'
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.'
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: 'Tax rises are on the way to pay for Labour's mismanagement of the economy.
'Hard-working families will have an agonising summer waiting to hear how Rachel Reeves will claw back the cash to make up for the failings of this weak Prime Minister.'