PM Fails To Guarantee Her Role: Axe Rachel Reeves as Chancellor? | Jeremy Vine

Added: 2026-05-01

[00:00:00]She's come under pressure following news that Britain's long-term borrowing costs have reached their highest level since 1998 as oil prices surge. Downing Street has also dismissed the idea of temporarily banning private rent increases, which Reeves reportedly was considering. At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the Chancellor was not running the economy economy in a serious way.

[00:00:26]It is time the Prime Minister gives her an easier job. So, will he listen to businesses, listen to the country, and reshuffle the Chancellor?

[00:00:36]Well, the Prime Minister praised Rachel Reeves. He stopped short of guaranteeing her future in the role, which didn't go unnoticed by the leader of the opposition. Mr. Speaker, at the spring statement, the Chancellor was very proud to say inflation was down to 3% and falling. Six interest rates in a cut.

[00:00:54]We've seen the growth figures for the early part of this year.

[00:00:57]And she says, well, the cost of borrowing's gone up. Yes, because there's a conflict in Iran.

[00:01:02]>> Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear him say he's not reshuffling the Chancellor.

[00:01:07]It sounds like she's toast.

[00:01:10]Downing Street later said the Prime Minister has full confidence in Rachel Reeves.

[00:01:14]Does he though? Should he? Of course he should. And you know, shame on you, Kemi, for taking this really easy shot.

[00:01:22]I mean, we are obsessed, aren't we, with this first female Chancellor? When's she going to go? When's she going to go? She literally sat in the chair and it's when's she going to go? When's she going to go? When's she going to go? When we had Rishi Sunak, when we had George Osborne, they were, you know, referenced as managing decline. They were both lauded as being very prudent in terms of their approach. But with Rachel Reeves, we're told that she's cold and that she's out of her depth.

[00:01:47]And we even heard Kemi suggesting that.

[00:01:49]The fact is, this is a very competent person who has been placed on a glass cliff. I don't know if you know what that corporate term means, uh Jeremy.

[00:02:00]Not a glass ceiling, but something else.

[00:02:02]>> Yeah. So, we're waiting for her to slip off. Okay? We've been we've given her this impossible task, which quite frankly she's done incredibly well.

[00:02:09]She's been handed this um inheritance of a tanker that's laden down with the fallout from austerity. And we're expecting her to do what? To create this magic in 18 months. That's ludicrous.

[00:02:22]>> let's also say, what is the rap sheet then, James? Um I don't know who you're talking about. Rachel Reeves. No.

[00:02:28]>> Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who's done a wonderful job in very extreme circumstances.

[00:02:34]>> No. There are so many instances where this whole notion that it's like, oh, she took over this difficult situation.

[00:02:40]Sure, but the thing is the decisions she has taken have taken this country in the wrong direction. She has directly contributed to jobs being lost. She has directly contributed to the high levels of borrowing. Why? Because national insurance, wrong decision. She's made the wrong decision in respect of investment into the UK. She has taken the wrong decision in respect of some taxes which are ideologically driven and she has driven up the cost and caused problems within other parts of the economy. You speak to small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses. She has made it more expensive to employ people. She has made it more difficult um to uh borrow money. She has made it more difficult to uh pay people in the right way. She hasn't dealt with the problems, sure, legacy problems within the tax system because she has chosen to focus on other things. I'm sorry, she doesn't have her her brief under control. She hasn't made the right decisions for this country.

[00:03:36]>> that because she's female? No, absolutely not. I'm sorry.

[00:03:40]I make a judgment on what people do. I am delighted if there are female leaders and people in positions of power. I certainly do not have a harsher view of her and and and her um response compared to others. I I've happily have said that I think um Philip Hammond made some terrible mistakes. George Osborne has created part of the problems within our housing industry because some again wrong-headed mistakes. So, I'm happy to criticize anybody if they're useless. Do you know what? I I would accept everything you say in part in terms of the impact that the national insurance decision has had on small businesses. I accept that.

[00:04:17]But we need to look at this as a whole.

[00:04:19]And what are the markets telling us? The markets are telling us that it's stable.

[00:04:24]It's stable the highest borrowing costs for 20 years. Uh because of the war in Iran.

[00:04:30]That is the reason. It's not because of Rachel Reeves. And let let let me give you an example of that. Because you'll remember that last year when You'll remember last year when there was all this kerfuffle about how dare she show her emotion when she was in the House of Commons and there was a tear in her eye.

[00:04:48]Ra ra ra ra. Um and what happened was there was instability in the market not because that she had a a tear in her eye, but because Keir Starmer failed to solidify her position. Once he did, And that is what we are here to say.

[00:05:08]Stable market.

[00:05:11]Hello, Jeremy and your panel. Good morning.

[00:05:15]Um I totally agree with the gentleman on your panel having just heard him. Uh let's go back to Rachel Reeves. She made a false statement. She she submitted a false CV, a false which was rectified when it was brought to the attention of the press.

[00:05:34]Uh her first budget had a go at pensioners.

[00:05:38]And the government are still doing that.

[00:05:41]Uh being a 79-year-old, and [cough] uh a a one of her first initiatives a big giveaway that she made was a penny off beer.

[00:05:53]Well, rather insignificant. Nobody's even mentioned it since.

[00:05:57]Uh a policy she made a rod for her own back with um her initial announcement of no income tax, no VAT, no national insurance for the workers.

[00:06:08]>> Wait wait she was dealing with so much debt. And that was loaded on her from the previous government.

[00:06:14]I pre- appreciate that, but she made the wrong decision of where to put the block. She's made a rod for her own back. Hm. Uh she she >> What should she have done instead?

[00:06:25]Well, she's taking it out now on pensioners, farmers, uh uh businesses. Shops are closing down all over the place. Nottingham and my local area of Clifton, you can see shops are now vacant.

[00:06:40]The it's been 40 years without any vacant shops.

[00:06:43]>> Understood. Thank you. Anthony London, hi.

[00:06:46]Hi. Hi.

[00:06:47]>> You agree with that?

[00:06:49]Definitely not. I think I think she's been unfairly treated simply because she's a woman. And she's the only one who's qualified out of the out of the whole lot of them including George Osborne. George Osborne studied political history. And all these others, nobody called nobody questioned him when he was making all these damaging cuts that are still, you know, affecting the country today. Cutting police, cutting hospitals, cutting the Ministry of Justice Let me finish, please. Let me just make my point.

[00:07:21]Let me make my point. And now Rachel has done Labour things. She's raised the minimum wage. She's she's she's made given people Listen.

[00:07:30]And and and the the economy was it was going up in February. The it was the fastest rising economy in Europe at the beginning of February before this war.

[00:07:40]So, the this idea that Rachel Reeves, they keep calling her Rachel from accounts. It's absurd. Nobody called George George Osborne George from admin.

[00:07:47]Nobody called Rishi Sunak. Even Nadhim Zahawi. Nobody ever mentioned what he was wearing and so on. But Rachel, it's always the way her appearance and this and that.

[00:07:57]James James Hang on. Anthony Anthony James, I I can't shout today. Anthony, Okay. I'm not shouting. I'm not shouting. No, but you are. You were getting a little bit uh I'm an animated Anthony. I'm not a woman, but I get I get hurt when I hurt Anthony, you're obviously not a woman.

[00:08:13]You say that Rachel Reeves is qualified for the job. She is not. She has made the wrong decisions. I don't mind whether she's old or young, male or female, where she comes from. That has nothing to do with it. It's about the decisions. And we talk about it.

[00:08:28]>> her Rachel from accounts? Yes. Right.

[00:08:30]What about scrapping the two-child benefit cap? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

[00:08:33]>> Terrible. What about So so taking children out of poverty is a terrible thing?

[00:08:38]>> No. Uh providing money >> Because that's what that's what she Yeah. Because that's Raising the national living living wage. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

[00:08:47]>> The national living wage, I agree with.

[00:08:48]I think that's a good thing. But I think anybody would agree with that. then, can't we, on the fact that yes, she's allowed to make mistakes? Is she allowed to make mistakes?

[00:08:55]>> is. But so but this is not the point.

[00:08:57]The so hang on a second. No, no, no. You keep talking and then you and then you don't listen. Okay, you keep talking and then you don't listen. So, here's the point. We are paying more in debt. Why?

[00:09:05]Because of the decisions that she's taken. You keep saying, oh, we had this stability. No, we don't. Because our debt rate is higher than many of our European colleagues. Why? Because she's taken the wrong decisions. I I'm I know it's a difficult job. I understand it's a difficult job.

[00:09:19]>> borrowed 100 million pounds a day for the last 70 years. And that is the fault of all parties. And it's probably our fault as voters cuz we found the national credit card. And we know we still won't stop spending on it. So, at being Chancellor of this country is probably impossible. And what's interesting is how you get criticized.

[00:09:39]And the point about this item is part of the criticism people don't like her voice or her or being or whatever. There's something else in there.

[00:09:48]>> any of those things. I'm not actually talking about it. But but what I'm concerned about is should Keir Starmer fire her? In fact, the answer is no.

[00:09:55]And the answer is no. And I'll tell you why, because the alternative is worse cuz I don't care who from the Labour Party is in that role. They are all going to take the wrong decisions.

[00:10:06]Anthony, thank you. Harry in West Glamorgan, hi.

[00:10:10]Here we go. How are we going? All right.

[00:10:12]Oh, you love that. Yeah. Go on.

[00:10:17]Come on, Harry.

[00:10:18]>> Oh, Harry. Oh, good morning, Jeremy. Well, I've been trying on the truth for years, right?

[00:10:23]Oh. I've made these three. I I raised three grandchildren.

[00:10:27]And since the this lady has been in for 2 years, my house has been insulated.

[00:10:34]I got solar panel about 4 weeks ago. My bill, looking at my my meter there, right? It's gone from £7 to £2 a day.

[00:10:42]Okay.

[00:10:43]>> She's up She's absolutely brilliant in my eyes.

[00:10:46]That's That's So, you're not employed You're not employed. You've got Your pension is is locked with the triple lock and that's good. She's done well for you.

[00:10:56]Yeah, we know. I I made these three. I'm on pension credit, right? And I I I raised three grandchildren, right?

[00:11:01]As well, right? But I got to be honest.

[00:11:05]They're They're running you down. I want to And what happened under the Tories?

[00:11:09]How can can you compare her to those?

[00:11:12]The mess team left us. You know, at the end of the day, give her a chance. Oh, Harry. Please. I'm so glad you got through.

[00:11:20]Go on, sorry. No, thanks for listening. I've been trying to get through for years, right? Cuz I I love the coal Thank you so much. Stay well, Harry.

[00:11:30]You're welcome. Bye-bye. Aw. I know he just You don't You don't have to say I know you disagree.