Rachel Reeves has revealed how much pocket money she pays her children a week and urged 16-year-olds to get a job. The Chancellor described her domestic arrangement to LBC presenter Iain Dale after presenting her Spring Statement yesterday. After being asked the question, Ms Reeves said: “Oh, erm.” Mr Dale then assured her: “I have a reason for asking this.” Laughing, the Chancellor quipped: “Well, they might phone in.”
She added: “I’ve got two and they’re different ages, and we pay one more than the other. They both get pocket money of between £5 and £10 a week.” Mr Dale then pointed out that she is “not as generous” as her deputy, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, who likened the cut to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for disabled people to him reducing his children’s pocket money by £10 a week on the BBC earlier that day.
The presenter called the comparison “crass”.
Ms Reeves replied: “Well, I think that one thing that I would say is that my children and the Chief Secretary’s children are too young.
“But, if you have a 16-year-old and you say, ‘Do you know what? I’m not going to give you so much pocket money, I want you to go out to work,’ and then the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] comes and does an impact assessment and says, ‘Your child is going to be worse off,’ well, they’re going to be worse off if they don’t go and get themselves a Saturday job.
“But, if they do go and get themselves a Saturday job, they’ll probably be better off, and they probably might enjoy it as well.
“Now, I know that’s not the right analogy, but there are a lot of people who have a disability that are desperate to work, and, with the appropriate support, and with an employer that is sympathetic and can find work that’s appropriate, I know that there are many, many more disabled people who can work, who want to work.
“And, if they go to work, they will be earning more money. More money for them and their families, but also contributing to the national economy, too.”
