Keir Starmer says Rachel Reeves doing ‘excellent job’ after crying in the Commons

Keir Starmer has said Rachel Reeves is doing an ‘excellent job’ after she broke down in tears in front of Parliament’s cameras this afternoon. The Chancellor cried during Prime Minister’s Questions as the PM failed to confirm she would still be in her job at the next election. The tears fell as Reeves faces scrutiny over the government’s welfare bill, which was gutted before being voted through on Monday evening (Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

However Sir Keir rode to his Chancellor’s defence, telling BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson that she would be running the country’s finances for ‘many years to come’. He added: ‘She’s done an excellent job as chancellor and we have delivered inward investment to this country in record numbers. She and I work together, we think together. In the past there have been examples – I won’t give any specifics – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep’ (Picture: BBC RADIO 4/UNPIXS)

A Treasury spokesperson told Metro after PMQs Reeves was dealing with ‘a personal matter’, adding it was something ‘we are not going to get into’. They added: ‘The Chancellor will be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.’ Her sister, Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves, was also seen holding her hand as they left the chamber together at the end of the session (Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

The Prime Minister backed up this reasoning in his interview on Tuesday night, repeating that her teary appearance had ‘nothing to do with politics’. Reports also suggested Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle shortly before Prime Minister’s Questions. A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: ‘No comment’ (Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

Sir Keir did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Reeves, but the Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters after: ‘The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the Prime Minister’s full backing. He has said it plenty of times, he doesn’t need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.’ Asked whether the Prime Minister still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: ‘Yes’ (Picture: BBC RADIO 4/UNPIXS)

Reeves is facing a serious economic dilemma after a bill aiming to bring down the UK’s welfare bill was upended by last minute concessions before being voted through yesterday evening. As a result, billions of pounds in savings that might have eased the Chancellor’s job balancing the books will no longer happen (Picture: Getty/PA Wire)

Changes to Universal Credit were included in the final bill that passed its second reading, but changes to the Personal Independence Payment (Pip) – where most of the savings were set to come from – were scrapped. Instead, alterations to the disability benefit will come from a review by Work and Pensions minister Stephen Timms which is set to be published next autumn. As that review will involve close work with disability groups, it’s expected the impact on Pip will be considerably less significant than the initial plans (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)