Rachel Reeves issued damning verdict by former Bank of England chief | Politics | News
Rachel Reeves has been accused of being dealt a “bad hand” and playing it “pretty poorly” by a former Bank of England chief economist.
Andy Haldane gave the reply when he was asked how the Chancellor has performed in her role.
He said: “Listen, it’s been a bad hand. Played, in truth, pretty poorly. So mistakes have been made and repeated mistakes. And the worst of that, I would say, is it’s it’s repeated mistakes. The black hole narrative that you and I discussed a year ago, sucking all life or energy and light from the economy, has been a mistake repeated this time as well. So not enough has been done to give growth a chance to create that stability.”
Speaking on Mornings with Ridge and Frost, he added: “It’s only 16 months since Keir Starmer said I want to tread more lightly on our lives that has singularly not happened. That speculation is proof positive of that.”
Ms Reeves is gearing up for her autumn budget on November 26.
When Mr Haldane asked on how bad he thinks the budget will be, he said: “It has been a long time, isn’t it? I mean, a real circus that’s been in town for months and months now. So speculation and that’s by itself been very bad. I think it’s caused businesses and consumers to hunker down. One of the reasons we had a very weak growth number last week is because there’s that budget speculation is damped people’s willingness to spend. And first and foremost, we need to stop that speculation.”
Ms Reeves will reportedly freeze thresholds for an extra two years after abandoning her plans to hike income tax in the budget.
She could also bring in a new levy on high-value properties, in the measures to be announced at the end of this month.
The Chancellor had been expected to raise income tax in the face of a yawning gap in her spending plans, hinting as recently as Monday that the alternative would be “deep cuts” to public investment.
But she has ditched the plan, which would have broken a Labour manifesto promise.
Ms Reeves is understood to have U-turned after improved forecasting from the Office for Budget Responsibility, but other tax rises have not been ruled out.
