Following her much-maligned Autumn budget, Rachel Reeves has appeared on the Sunday interview shows to defend herself. The approach she’s taken has been the ‘Keir Starmer method’, which is to deny reality and insist she’s been very honest, actually:
On tax Rachel Reeves says she’s been honest and up front and Labour hasn’t broken its manifesto promises #bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/0qyFGbeycg
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) November 30, 2025
The problem for Reeves is that she blatantly hasn’t been honest, and telling people otherwise is going to down about as well as her budget.
Rachel Reeves—Honestly
Reeves’ budget wasn’t as disastrous as it could have been on the day, if only because it was a disaster for weeks before she delivered it. This strategy meant that by the time it actually landed, people were already about as fed up of her budget as they could be:
Not every decision was unpopular, however, as this next chart shows:
In her interview with the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg, Reeves faced questions on how Labour have been on taxes. The critical problem for Labour is that they promised not to raise taxes on working people, leading Kuenssberg to ask:
Do you deny that you led people to believe you wouldn’t put their taxes up?
Reeves responded:
Well, we had a manifesto commitment not to increase the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT, and also that we would keep corporation tax at its current levels, in the budget last year and the budget this year, I have stuck to those.
But I was really clear on that speech that you referenced on the 6 November, that I would be asking everyone to make a contribution to be able to protect funding for public services. And that is why I made the decision to freeze the tax threshold for a further three years. The Conservatives froze that for seven years. We have extended it.
Later she would claim:
I am being honest and upfront that we’re asking people to pay more in tax.
You may be confused here, because she’s saying both that:
- They’ve stuck to their promise to not raise taxes.
- They’ve told people they’re going to pay more taxes.
Reeves is trying to excuse herself on a technicality.
Specifically, by ‘freezing the tax threshold’, they’re not raising people’s taxes today, and yet their taxes will raise in future as a result of this decision. As Kuenssberg notes, it will mean more than a million people will pay more taxes than they would have done.
Does Reeves honestly think people are so easily fooled?
The black hole
There’s also this ongoing fiasco:
🚨 WATCH: Rachel Reeves says she didn’t lie about the state of public finances before the Budget
“I’m a Labour Chancellor. I want to reduce child poverty. I make no apologies for that” pic.twitter.com/w3EJBgRoQe
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) November 30, 2025
If you’re unaware of the above story, it’s frankly bizarre and more than a little concerning that a senior politician would behave like this.
In simple terms, Reeves claimed there was a budgetary black hole which needed filling before the budget, and yet Treasury forecasters actually told her there was a surplus. Why did she do this? It’s unclear, but it certainly wasn’t because she’s driven by honesty.
In response to the black hole bungle, the other parties have all gone after Reeves:
Labour can’t outrun the truth.
I have asked the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate the fake ‘black hole’ briefings.
These briefings misled the public, Parliament, the media and the markets ahead of a UK budget that raised taxes by £26bn and reduced living standards. pic.twitter.com/zcZA17H54f
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) November 29, 2025
Rachel Reeves says on Laura Kuenssberg that she’s asking working people to pay a little bit more.
This was all under the cover of a made up “black hole” whilst refusing to tax the super rich.
This Labour Government showing again exactly who they are and who they serve.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) November 30, 2025
This person:
Lied on their CV.
Lied about not raising taxes.
Lied about a “black hole” to smuggle in huge tax rises.
She MUST resign.
— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) November 30, 2025
Badenoch: Hopefully There Will Be an FCA Investigation Into Reeves for Market Manipulation https://t.co/A8v17LN8nG pic.twitter.com/oxuWU6t4fa
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) November 30, 2025
This mess is entirely of Reeves’ own making.
There’s more to add to the dishonesty pile too:
Here’s Reeves telling us how bad child poverty is, that kids go to bed hungry, wake up in cold homes & end up in hospital with respiratory problems, all because of child poverty.
Last year Labour suspended 7 MPs from the PLP for voting to scrap the cap
She thinks we’re idiots pic.twitter.com/dvE1oTytDl
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) November 30, 2025
Rachel Reeves is right to highlight that 60% of kids in poverty are in households where at least one parent works, & she goes on to cite the high costs of rent as one reason why these families are struggling.
So why havn’t you introduced rent caps? #bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/vZCgkxQqau
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) November 30, 2025
Run for his money
A few years ago, we would have told you that Boris Johnson was the most dishonest man in politics. Keir Starmer has managed to draw level with Johnson in the years since, but Rachel Reeves could overtake both of them if she carries on like this.
The question, of course, is should she carry on.
The answer, most people seem to agree, is ‘no‘.
Featured image via BBC
