UK Budget Reversals Threaten Reeves as Well as Her Fiscal Rules

Labour’s costly climbdowns on big policy plans don’t just leave Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves with the dilemma of how to find the money to meet her budget rules. They’re also starting to raise questions about her own job security.

More than 120 Labour rebels forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer to make significant concessions on proposed changes to disability benefits that had been designed to save £4.8 billion ($6.6 billion) and keep Reeves on track to meet her budget rule that taxes must cover day-to-day spending. The U-turn wiped out some £3 billion of those savings, according to Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Ruth Curtice, who until last year was the Treasury’s director of fiscal policy.