Rachel Reeves takes swipe at critics – ‘I’ll be the Chancellor that turns issues round’

Rachel Reeves has taken a swipe at “opportunistic” critics and said she’s determined to the Chancellor that turns the economy around.

Ms Reeves has come under intense pressure in recent weeks after turbulence in the economic markets sent government borrowing costs soaring and hit the value of the pound. Borrowing costs have been on the rise around the world – fuelled in part by Donald Trump’s threats of a trade war.

But critics questioned whether the Budget has left the UK particularly exposed amid ongoing concern from business leaders over whether some measures will damage the Chancellor’s quest for growth. Keir Starmer threw his weight behind her as he faced questions over her future – and No10 said she would remain in post for the rest of this Parliament.

Speaking to the Mirror in No11 Downing Street, Ms Reeves dismissed her critics and said she was determined to fix things. She said: “For 14 years, our growth has been anaemic. It’s been on the floor. It’s not been good enough. I’m determined to be the Chancellor, and I’m determined that this is going to be the Government, that turns that around.”

She said it was impossible to fix everything overnight but added: “I want working people to be better off, and that means we need to go further and faster in removing those obstacles that are stopping our economy from growing and delivering the improved living standards for people.

“I’m not satisfied with where we are today. Low growth is not our country’s destiny. I am so much more ambitious for Britain.”

She said her critics were a “bit opportunistic”, adding: “The UK is an open economy, an open trading economy. When there are global movements, there’s going to be movements in Britain as well… People who say that this is somehow a UK thing need to explain why government borrowing costs increased in America, Germany and France as well.”

She said the Government had inherited a large amount of debt from the Tories – and that’s why she’s set tough fiscal rules to stabilise the public finances.

Ms Reeves said: “You can’t just keep adding to your borrowing. Those fiscal rules are non-negotiable for me and this Government because it’s all about creating that economic stability to make sure working people are better off.

“We know what happens when a government loses control of the public finances, because Liz Truss did it just a couple of years ago, and it results in higher mortgage costs, higher inflation and huge disruption and uncertainty families and for businesses.

“I will never play fast and loose with the public finances in the way that the Tories did because I know it is ordinary working people in Britain that pay the price for that.”