The relationship between Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves is “breaking down”, a Labour insider has claimed, as the UK suffers economic woes following the Chancellor’s Budget.
Tom Harris, former Labour MP for Glasgow South and a former minister, suggested that the Prime Minister fumbled the ball on Monday when he said that he had “full confidence” in Ms Reeves.
However, he did not answer if the Chancellor would still be in post at the next election, expected in 2029.
This caused “unnecessary damage he has done to Reeves’s authority”, Mr Harris wrote in his Telegraph column , despite being “bowled an easy under-arm” by journalists.
Instead, the commentator suggested that Sir Keir should have replied with “an unequivocal ‘yes'”.
He said: “We all thought and hoped that Starmer’s relationship with Reeves would be stable, positive and long-term.
“It might still be, but Starmer’s fumbling of the ball yesterday makes such a prospect unnecessarily unlikely.”
Ms Reeves announced on October 30 that the basic rate capital gains tax on profits from selling shares was to increase from 10% to 18%. The higher rate will rise from 20% to 24%.
Employers are also to pay National Insurance (NI) at 15% on salaries above £5,000 from April, up from 13.8% on salaries above £9,100.
Last week, Sterling slumped to its lowest level against the US dollar for more than a year as Government borrowing costs skyrocketted.
Yields on bonds continued to rise, up eight basis points to 4.89 for 10-year gilts. This was the highest since 2008.
Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisory firm the deVere Group, said that the country is “staring down the barrel of the stagflation gun”, with stunted growth and persistent inflation combining to create “one of the most challenging financial environments in over a decade”.
Despite the economic turmoil, the Chancellor doubled down on her policies on Tuesday, and said the Government will go “further and faster” on its growth plan.
Yesterday, Downing Street said that Ms Reeves will remain in her role “for the whole of this Parliament”.
