Rachel Reeves Says She Will Be Chancellor For 'Years And Years' Despite Budget Tax Row
Rachel Reeves ahead of last week's Budget.Rachel Reeves has insisted she will be chancellor “for years and years” as she was forced to deny lying to the country about the state of the public finances.The chancellor said she was “determined” to stay on in her job amid a furious row over her decision to hike taxes by £26 billion in the Budget last week.Treasury officials repeatedly suggested in the run-up to the Budget that there was a black hole of up to £30bn in the government’s sums.But figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) financial watchdog on Friday showed that gap did not exist and that the chancellor actually had a surplus of £4.2bn.The Tories have accused Reeves of misleading voters because she wanted to put up taxes to please Labour MPs and called on Keir Starmer to sack her.On BBC 1 on Sunday morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked the chancellor: “After the Budget you told your MPs that you would show your critics. You said I’ll be here this year, next year and the year after and the year after. Are you sure?”The chancellor replied: “Yes I am sure. I am determined. I was an MP in opposition for 14-and-a-half years.“I have been underestimated all the way through my life as a young girl from an ordinary background people made assumptions about me and I’ve defied them before and I will defy my critics again.“I’m proud of my Budget this week. Proud that I’m taking money off energy bills, proud that I’m reducing NHS waiting lists, proud that I’m cutting child poverty and priud that I’ve put our public finances on a sustainable footing.”
Rachel Reeves ahead of last week's Budget.Rachel Reeves has insisted she will be chancellor “for years and years” as she was forced to deny lying to the country about the state of the public finances.The chancellor said she was “determined” to stay on in her job amid a furious row over her decision to hike taxes by £26 billion in the Budget last week.Treasury officials repeatedly suggested in the run-up to the Budget that there was a black hole of up to £30bn in the government’s sums.But figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) financial watchdog on Friday showed that gap did not exist and that the chancellor actually had a surplus of £4.2bn.The Tories have accused Reeves of misleading voters because she wanted to put up taxes to please Labour MPs and called on Keir Starmer to sack her.On BBC 1 on Sunday morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked the chancellor: “After the Budget you told your MPs that you would show your critics. You said I’ll be here this year, next year and the year after and the year after. Are you sure?”The chancellor replied: “Yes I am sure. I am determined. I was an MP in opposition for 14-and-a-half years.“I have been underestimated all the way through my life as a young girl from an ordinary background people made assumptions about me and I’ve defied them before and I will defy my critics again.“I’m proud of my Budget this week. Proud that I’m taking money off energy bills, proud that I’m reducing NHS waiting lists, proud that I’m cutting child poverty and priud that I’ve put our public finances on a sustainable footing.”
Rachel Reeves Says She Will Be Chancellor For 'Years And Years' Despite Budget Tax Row
Rachel Reeves ahead of last week's Budget.Rachel Reeves has insisted she will be chancellor “for years and years” as she was forced to deny lying to the country about the state of the public finances.The chancellor said she was “determined” to stay on in her job amid a furious row over her decision to hike taxes by £26 billion in the Budget last week.Treasury officials repeatedly suggested in the run-up to the Budget that there was a black hole of up to £30bn in the government’s sums.But figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) financial watchdog on Friday showed that gap did not exist and that the chancellor actually had a surplus of £4.2bn.The Tories have accused Reeves of misleading voters because she wanted to put up taxes to please Labour MPs and called on Keir Starmer to sack her.On BBC 1 on Sunday morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked the chancellor: “After the Budget you told your MPs that you would show your critics. You said I’ll be here this year, next year and the year after and the year after. Are you sure?”The chancellor replied: “Yes I am sure. I am determined. I was an MP in opposition for 14-and-a-half years.“I have been underestimated all the way through my life as a young girl from an ordinary background people made assumptions about me and I’ve defied them before and I will defy my critics again.“I’m proud of my Budget this week. Proud that I’m taking money off energy bills, proud that I’m reducing NHS waiting lists, proud that I’m cutting child poverty and priud that I’ve put our public finances on a sustainable footing.”
