Apparently, she isn’t making us pay enough tax. That’s the verdict of growing numbers on the left of the Labour Party, who want to replace her with somebody who’ll really go for the jugular.
It’s absurd.
It’s like complaining that PM Keir Starmer hasn’t grabbed enough freebies, or that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has too much common sense.
But that’s how they think, on the left of the party. Their biggest beef about Labour is that Rachel Reeves is too soft.
She needs to tax more – and spend more of course.
Her growing army of left-wing critics don’t care that taxes were at a record high when Labour took charge, and Reeves piled on another £40billion in her autumn Budget.
Or that the nation’s finances are on a knife edge, after Reeves borrowed another £30 billion a year, lifting the national debt to new records.
The left doesn’t care that we’re borrowing to a staggering £300billion this year in total, at the highest interest rates in decades.
They don’t think that’s a problem at all.
It almost makes me have some sympathy towards Rachel Reeves.
But not that much sympathy. Reeves entered No. 11 with plans to tax more, spend more and worry about growth later.
She’s had a reality shock when the growth instantly vanished.
Now she’s desperately searching for ways to make the economy grow, while the rest of the party watches grumpy from the sidelines because she’s spoiled their fun.
Fury is growing across the left-wing press, for those and daft enough (like me) to read it. They want Labour to go faster, tax harder, spend quicker.
And to hell with the consequences.
They poo-poo research showing how non-doms, millionaires and wealth makers are fleeing the country to protect their wealth as Reeves swoops.
They ignore the uncomfortable fact that the economy stopped growing the moment Reeves opened her mouth and threatened a brutal Budget.
And there’s no mention of the hundreds of thousands of jobs destroyed by Budget decision to hike employer’s national insurance by £25billion.
They just think capitalism is evil and must be taught a lesson. They don’t seem to realise that we rely on generating growth to fund the NHS and all the other state services the left are constantly demanding more money for.
They’ve lost all connection with reality.
The left has already forgotten that Reeves has given public sector trade unions inflation-busting pay rises, while asking nothing in return.
Instead, they’re fixating on the next pay hike.
If it was left to the Corbynites that Starmer ousted, taxpayers would be reeling under an onslaught of new taxes.
The party’s left isn’t short of ideas. They’re after our pensions, incomes, inheritances, capital gains, property and any other form of wealth we may muster.
Its appetite for taxing the so-called “wealthy” won’t end with billionaires. They’ll move onto the rest of us soon enough.
At the end of it, they’ll wonder why we were even poorer than we began, and assume they need to tax some more.
It’s terrifying to think that Reeves is all that stands between us and that dismal scenario. But for how much longer?
