I’m not saying she’s done a good job. She hasn’t. Within days of Labour winning the election, it was clear she was going to be a disaster. Every warning light flashed red. She was ready to hike inheritance tax, capital gains tax and launch raid after raid on pensioners. And sure enough, she has.
Then came the big insult. She pretended to “discover” a £22billion black hole in the public finances after the election, as if voters were too stupid to see what was coming. Surprise surprise, it was then used to justify even bigger tax hikes.
Reeves stunned the nation by suggesting pensioners earning just £11,350 were “rich” and didn’t deserve winter fuel payments, as if they were rolling in money.
Readers know the rest. Her doom-and-gloom warnings and endless tax threats choked off growth. Her budget was a jobs killer. Hard-working farmers and family firms were hit hardest, while she splashed billions on public sector workers.
She’s still coming for our pensions, our inheritances, our incomes, even dragging the poorest pensioners into the tax net.
She’s smashed her own fiscal rules, and now faces a £32billion shortfall of her own making before the next Budget. This after hiking taxes by £40billion and borrowing an extra £30billion.
She’s been a disaster. So why am I saying she must stay? Especially when I’ve spent the last year documenting every trick, mistake and sleight of hand?
Because what’s waiting in the wings is even worse.
Reeves is on the brink, following the winter fuel and disability benefits shambles. There are plenty more U-turns to come, starting with the next Budget.
She said she wouldn’t repeat last October’s tax raid. Now she has no choice. Her “non-negotiable” fiscal rules are wobbling.
Yet unbelievably, Labour MPs accuse her of pushing Tory-style austerity, even as she taxes and spends like there’s no tomorrow. They want her out.
The only thing keeping her in post is the bond market. That became clear last week when UK borrowing costs surged on fears she might be replaced.
This is the nightmare scenario. We already spend £110billion a year just servicing the national debt. That’s way more than we spend on defence, for example. If borrowing costs rise, so does that bill.
Bond markets aren’t fans of Rachel Reeves. But they’re terrified of what comes next. And so am I.
Labour’s rebels are giddy on their own power. They think they’ve scored a great victory, and want more. More tax. More spend. More debt. More deficit.
They don’t care if this kills growth or drives Britain into a debt spiral. They only care about their egos. These paper class warriors didn’t become MPs to make tough decisions, but to blow other people’s money and parade their virtue while doing it.
They’re closing in on Keir Starmer, who’s looking weaker by the day.
Reeves nearly cracked last week in Parliament. She’s the only senior Labour figure who seems to grasp the scale of the crisis facing the UK as we spiral towards insolvency.
Angela Rayner doesn’t. Ed Miliband hasn’t got a clue. That’s why rebel MPs love them.
The UK’s first female Chancellor has transformed into the boy with his finger in the dyke. On the other side, a foaming mass of fiscally ignorant Labour MPs and activists. If she goes, they’ll wash the UK away.
Unbelievable as it sounds, we have to hope Rachel Reeves stays. Because what comes next doesn’t bear thinking about.