A visibly emotional Reeves struggled to contain her tears in the Commons chamber during Prime Minister’s Questions as she and Sir Keir Starmer came under pressure over Tuesday’s messy disability benefits u-turn.
But Keir Starmer added fuel to the speculation over her future when he failed to make a commitment in the Commons Chamber that the Chancellor’s was secure.
No10 was forced into a hasty clarification with the official spokesman saying Reeves will remain in her post for the full parliament.
They added that Starmer also has full confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall following the debacle which saw a last-minute U-turn on reforming Personal Independence Payments for disabled people in order to stave off a damaging rebellion and save wider welfare reforms.
Multiple MPs said they could not support restricting eligibility for PIP until they had seen the outcome of the review into how the assessment process might change.
But the concession will cost the Government billions of pounds in savings that had already been factored into the budget, leaving an estimated £5bn hole in Reeves’s calculations.
The original welfare reform package had been due to save £5bn for the Treasury.
A source pointed out her team had been warning No10 for months about the need to get Labour MPs on-side and were dismissed.
Blame falls on Rachel Reeves
Insider said it was Reeves who had set the stringent timetable to achieve the welfare savings, which created the need to rush through the PIP reforms in the first place.
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“There have been so many U-turns put on her you wonder if she might just go,” they said, referring to the backdown on cutting winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
They said MPs’ staffers believe a change is now needed and when asked if Reeves should go simply replied: “No comment.”
“This comes back to Rachel’s [spending] rules and on this specifically she set the timeline. There is no way the government will touch welfare again.”
No10 said no reshuffle was imminent.
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