‘Here for the long haul’ – Reeves launches fightback following market troubles
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Rachel Reeves has insisted she is “here for the long haul” in a fightback following criticism of her response to financial market turbulence. As she rebuffed critics of her economic decisions in her first broadcast interview since the turmoil erupted, the Chancellor also insisted she was “not going to let them get me down”.
She has faced criticism for continuing with a trip to China last weekend while government borrowing costs surged and the value of the pound slumped. Indicators of the health of the economy have since provided Ms Reeves with some relief, with inflation falling unexpectedly and a return to growth, although this was weaker than expected at 0.1%.
Speaking to the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, Ms Reeves brushed off comparisons with short-live Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, whose mini-budget spooked the financial markets in 2022 and led to a spike in mortgage rates. The Chancellor said: “Every decision I make has consequences, but so does the counterfactual.
“If I had made the decision not to address those very real pressures, then this is the consequence: borrowing costs would have gone through the roof. “Borrowing costs not just for Government but for families and businesses, like it did when Liz Truss was prime minister.”.
