𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has hit back at her critics, saying: “I’m sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor to me.”

The UK’s first female Chancellor said in a new interview: “I recognise that I’ve got a target on me. You can see that in the media; they’re going for me all the time. It’s exhausting. But I’m not going to let them bring me down by undermining my character or my confidence. I’ve seen off a lot of those boys before and I’ll continue to do so.”

Speaking to journalist and former Labour adviser Tom Baldwin for The Times Magazine, she said: “I’m not a public personality. I’m not in showbusiness. I’m the chancellor. If you want people to enter politics, you have to remember they’re human beings. I’m a mum with two kids. I’m a wife and a daughter. I wasn’t born into this and I’m just trying to do my best.”

But she admitted that she wished she had not gone into the House of Commons Chamber when she was feeling emotional earlier this year and was caught on camera crying. Ms Reeves was dealt a fresh economic blow this morning as Government borrowing surged again.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector borrowing stood at £17.4 billion last month, £1.8 billion lower than a year ago but the third highest level for October since records began. The figure was more than the £15 billion expected by most economists and higher than the £14.4 billion forecast in March by the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Borrowing for the seven months of the financial year to date was £116.8 billion – £9 billion higher than the same period a year ago and £9.9 billion above the OBR’s forecasts in March. The figures come less than a week before the November 26 Budget, when Ms Reeves is expected to reveal a raft of measures to help plug a black hole in the UK public finances, estimated at up to £50 billion by some economists.