Reeves tells BBC: Burnham needs worked-through plan to govern from the start
We sat down in one of the lavish 17th Century state rooms upstairs in No 11 Downing Street - exactly the same room where she
We sat down in one of the lavish 17th Century state rooms upstairs in No 11 Downing Street - exactly the same room where she gave her first full interview as chancellor in July 2024. She would never have suspected then that she and her next-door neighbour would be moving out just 24 months later. Reeves wouldn't explicitly say who should be the next chancellor, or even if she would like to stay.
She has always told us that being chancellor is her "dream job". She and her team clearly do not expect to stay in No 11, but with the incoming No 10 team tight-lipped about its cast list, we just don't know. Reeves said that she had returned "stability and trust" to the economy over the past two years, and that "Andy will take over an economy that is much stronger than the one I inherited from the Conservatives just two years ago." In the interview, Reeves wanted to focus on what she described as the "big picture" - government borrowing costs that have gone down, inflation way down from its peak, increased investment in infrastructure like roads and railways, and the economy growing faster than the UK's nearest competitors.
But by other measures, there are still big problems in the economy. Inflation is still above target and is expected to rise, growth has been slow, and just this week, the Bank of England warned that interest rates might have to go up again.
The country's debts are due to be higher at the end of this parliament than they were when Labour moved in. And more than anything else, firms and families' spending power is still under pressure, with the latest ONS figures showing disposable income falling.
The BriefWire