Speaking to the i paper, some Labour MPs took aim at the beleaguered Chancellor – who is fighting to stay in post amid economic turmoil and unpopular Budget choices.
As the value of the pound has dropped sharply and the cost of Government borrowing has risen to decades-high levels, Reeves is considering “ruthless” spending cuts – which Prime Minister Keir Starmer has backed.
However, other Labour MPs think the Chancellor’s days are numbered.
“We are hoping things will calm down soon. At the moment it feels like Liz Truss in slow motion,” one MP told the i.
The comment echoes the front page of the Daily Star earlier this week, which mocked Reeves up as a lettuce and suggested she wouldn’t last longer than it – echoing its headline-making joke at the former Tory prime minister’s expense.
Another Labour MP delivered an even more withering assessment, saying: “Her nickname was Rachel from accounts.
“Now people are calling her ‘Rachel the temp’.”
Reeves’s problems have been further compounded by the resignation of one of her ministers at the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, following an investigation into links to her aunt’s political movement in Bangladesh.
However, amid the turmoil – which puts the Government’s plans for the nation’s finances at risk – Reeves was adamant of the need to swiftly search for economic growth, which Labour has made their number one goal but so far failed to deliver in any form.
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Reeves yesterday told the Commons: “We have seen global economic uncertainty play out in the last week. But leadership is not about ducking these challenges, it is about rising to them.”
But the Chancellor has the support of the Prime Minister, and many Labour MPs and ministers.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones told LBC that the pressure on Reeves was “unfair”.
“Look, the Chancellor is doing a brilliant job,” he said, putting issues with the economy down to “global movements”.
“The first thing to say, as I’m always reminded, is ministers don’t comment on market movements, but what I will say is that a lot of this is down to global movements in international markets. Other countries are facing similar challenges,” Jones said.
The Chancellor’s fiscal rules are the “right approach from the Chancellor in difficult global economic circumstances, and with a difficult inheritance that we had from the last government”, he said.
Jones further said there would not be a mini-budget in March, after reports suggested Reeves could be planning to use on to bring in cuts.
He told Times Radio: “We’ve been very clear there’s only going to be one major fiscal event, Treasury language for a budget, a year. We did that in the autumn last year.
Pressed on whether he was ruling out a mini-budget, he said there would be a spring statement on March 26.
“But we will only be having one major fiscal event a year, budget, and that will be in the autumn.”