Last week Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she is ‘sick of people mansplaining how to be Chancellor to me’ as she hit back her critics ahead of the Budget
Rachel Reeves receives more abuse and criticism because she’s a woman, Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister said sexism is rife in public life – including in politics and the media. He made the comments after the Chancellor said she is “sick of people mansplaining how to be Chancellor to me”.
Asked whether he thought criticism of Ms Reeves is sexist, Mr Starmer told reporters at the G20 summit: “I will just say this that I strongly believe that women in public life get much more criticism and abuse than men, and I mean that is in politics, but it’s also across a number of other areas. I’d also say the media frankly.
“And I think we need to acknowledge that. There’s abuse and criticism of all politicians, but I’m acutely aware that women get much more abuse and criticism than men do and I think it’s about time we acknowledge that.”
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The PM also praised Ms Reeves being the first female Chancellor ever – and how she is doing a “really good” job leading the Treasury. Speaking ahead of her make-or-break Budget, Mr Starmer said: “I’m really proud to have the first female Chancellor ever in however many hundreds of years, it’s been 700 or 800 I can’t remember, but I’m really proud that we’ve got a female Chancellor who’s doing a really good job.
“And because of the decisions that she has already taken, we’ve had five million extra NHS appointments. We said before the election, we’d do two million extra appointments in the first year of a Labour government, we did five million. We’ve had five interest rate cuts and wages have gone up more in the first 16 months of this government than they went up in the first 10 years of the last government. So I’m really proud to have a female Chancellor.”
In an interview last week, Ms Reeves said being negatively labelled “Rachel from accounts” by opponents also spurred her on. She said: “I recognise that I’ve got a target on me. You can see that in the media; they’re going for me all the time. It’s exhausting.
“But I’m not going to let them bring me down by undermining my character or my confidence. I’ve seen off a lot of those boys before and I’ll continue to do so.”
Speaking days before her Budget on Wednesday, the Chancellor said she wants to show the public “that they can trust me with their money, to run the economy”.
“I’m not a public personality. I’m not in showbusiness,” she said. “I’m the Chancellor. If you want people to enter politics, you have to remember they’re human beings. I’m a mum with two kids. I’m a wife and a daughter. I wasn’t born into this and I’m just trying to do my best.”