British prime minister Keir Starmer has said chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves retains his support as pressure on her resumed after the weekend over the state of the country’s finances.
Government borrowing costs continued to rise on Monday and the value of sterling fell as investors fretted over Britain’s moribund economy and its prospects for growth.
In an attempt to boost his nation’s flagging recovery narrative, Mr Starmer gave a big speech in east London about the economic opportunities that lay ahead in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The event was overshadowed, however, by questions about Ms Reeves after weekend speculation in some British media that she could be ditched by the prime minister after her spring statement.
“We never pretended, nor would anybody sensibly argue, that after 14 years of failure you could turn around our economy and public services before Christmas,” said Mr Starmer, following his AI speech in Stratford.
He appeared to avoid questions from reporters over whether Ms Reeves, Britain’s first woman chancellor, would remain in the role for the entire five-year parliament ahead. A 10 Downing Street spokesman, however, tried to downplay talk of her potential removal at an afternoon briefing with Westminster reporters. The spokesman said the prime minister was “clear [that] she is doing a fantastic job” and that he had “full confidence in her”.
When asked if Mr Starmer expected to work with her as chancellor for the whole parliament, the spokesman replied that he did.
Pat McFadden, the senior government minister who runs the cabinet office, is seen by many in Westminster as a potential replacement for Ms Reeves should she be forced out of office. He said, however, that he expected her to still be in office by the autumn.
While number 10 defended the chancellor, Mr Starmer insisted the government would still be “ruthless” in its management of the public finances and would make spending cuts if necessary to keep within fiscal rules, which limit borrowing for day-to-day spending.
Meanwhile in Scotland, where Labour is locked in a battle with the Scottish National Party (SNP) in advance of Holyrood elections in 2026, former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon announced the end of her marriage to Peter Murrell, the former party apparatchik who was last year charged with embezzling SNP funds.
Labour trounced the SNP in last July’s Westminster elections in the wake of the nationalists’ financial scandal, but the SNP has since recovered in opinion polls.
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