Squirming Keir Starmer refuses to say Rachel Reeves will be Chancellor at next election after horror Budget
SIR Keir Starmer has refused to say troubled Rachel Reeves will still be Chancellor at the next election.
The hammer blow came as big business publicly turning on Reeves amid amid continued market turmoil and soaring borrowing costs.
While the PM said he was “completely confident in my team” but pointedly refused to say she would last the Parliament.
He was asked “yes or no” if Ms Reeves would be in the Treasury in 2029 – which is the latest date the country can go to the polls.
When asked again if he backed her to get the job done he stopped short of saying she would be there at the next election.
The PM said he was “completely confident in my team” but pointedly refused to say she would last the Parliament.
He added: “Rachel Reeves is doing a fantastic job. She has my full confidence. She has the full confidence of the entire party.
“She was given an incredibly challenging task at the Budget, because not only was the economy broken, but we had a £20 billion pound black hole and many, many things that have been identified for spending which didn’t have any spending attached to them.
“So she took the tough decisions. She’s right to take the tough decisions, because, as anybody who’s turned around a business or organisation will know, if you’re going to turn something around, you’ve got to take the tough decisions first, you can’t identify a tough decision, then decide to put it off for six months or a year.”
Downing Street has previously said that Foreign Secretary David Lammy would be in the same post for the Parliament.
Shadow Treasury Minister Gareth Davies said: “Labour are trying to insist that everything is fine, but the fact that Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say whether Rachel Reeves will remain as Chancellor speaks volumes.
“The Prime Minister is looking for a scapegoat but this crisis was made in Downing Street by Rachel Reeves.
“The markets and businesses are watching, Labour promised stability and confidence but they have lost control.
“They must take action to reverse before this gets worse for families.”
But it comes as big business turned on Ms Reeves – as fresh market turmoil rocks the Treasury.
The Chancellor has come under fire as chiefs hit out at saying she has “bruised” the confidence of the sector following her tax raid Budget.
CBI boss Rupert Soames also blasts the workers’ rights bill – with one calling it “adventure playground for employment rights lawyers”.
She also finds herself under fire from Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe who says the chemicals industry is facing “extinction” under current plans.
But Mr Soames told the BBC: “The Chancellor told us at the time of the budget that there was an unexpected hole of about £22 billion pounds in the Government finances, and business was going to have to fill it.
“In filling in one hole, it’s created another, and that hole is a hole in the confidence and trust that business has in the Government.
The CBI chief added: “I think sometimes it’s not understood, the extent of the impact, particularly on companies that employ lots of people.
“We think the national insurance increases are going to feed through into inflation, we’re going to have a lower growth rate, but also, because of things like the Employment Rights Bill coming along, you’re going to find people laying people off and less likely to employ.”
Soames – who represents 190,000 business across the country – added: “I think not only will they not employ, I think they will let people go.
“I think there could be quite an ugly rush before some of these things come into force.
“Nobody wants this, but the things like the probation periods in the Employment Rights Bill, we don’t want that to become an adventure playground for employment rights lawyers.”
Meanwhile Manchester United owner Jim Ratcliffe savages government Net Zero plans for decimating UK chemicals industry.
The billionaire spoke out after his Ineos boss said his company last week closed the last remaining synthetic ethanol plant in the country.
He said: “We are witnessing the extinction of one of our major industries as chemical manufacture has the life squeezed out of it.”
Ineos wants to see a trade policy that supports domestic manufacturing in its own markets and does not incentivise imports.
Sir Jim said: “De-industrialising Britain achieves nothing for the environment. It merely shifts production and emissions elsewhere.
“The UK, and particularly the north, needs high quality manufacturing and the associated manufacturing jobs.”
The pound was under further pressure on Monday as Government borrowing costs continued to push to multi-decade highs.
Sterling fell 0.4% to 1.215 US dollars, having last week hit its lowest level against the dollar since November 2023 amid the sell-off in Government bonds.
UK Government bonds – also known as gilts – continued to see yields rise, with 10-year gilts remaining at the highest level since 2008, up four basis points at 4.89%.
The yield on 30-year gilts also hit fresh 27-year highs, up five basis points at 5.5 per cent.