No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she ‘is going nowhere’ after tearful appearance in Commons
Rachel Reeves has not offered her resignation and is “going nowhere”, Downing Street has said, following her tearful appearance in the House of Commons.
A Number 10 spokesperson said the chancellor had the “full backing” of Sir Keir Starmer, despite Ms Reeves looking visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Politics latest: ‘A moment of intense peril’ for PM
A spokesperson for the chancellor later clarified that Ms Reeves had been affected by a “personal matter” and would be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.
Politics latest: Reeves looks visibly upset in Commons
UK government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022, and the pound tumbled after Ms Reeves’s Commons appearance, while the yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points at one point to around 4.68%.
Downing Street’s insistence came despite Sir Keir refusing to guarantee that Ms Reeves would stay as chancellor until the next election following the fallout from the government’s recent welfare U-turn.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Badenoch said: “This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole created by the chancellor. Instead they’re creating new ones.”
Turning to the chancellor, the Tory leader added: “[She] is pointing at me – she looks absolutely miserable.
“Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”
Not fully answering the question, the prime minister replied: “[Ms Badenoch] certainly won’t.
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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’
“I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”
Mrs Badenoch interjected: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening.
A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill – the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.
After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down.
They ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to Universal Credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Ms Badenoch said the climbdown was proof that Sir Keir was “too weak to get anything done”.
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Ms Reeves has also borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.
Experts have now warned that the welfare U-turn, on top of reversing the cut to winter fuel, means that tax rises in the autumn are more likely – with Ms Reeves now needing to find £5bn to make up for the policy U-turns.
Asked by Ms Badenoch whether he could rule out further tax rises – something Labour promised it would not do on working people in its manifesto – Sir Keir said: “She knows that no prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.
“But she talks about growth, for 14 years we had stagnation, and that is what caused the problem.”
A police officer has described the moment he was shot with a crossbow – as his “extremely dangerous” attacker was sentenced to nine years in jail.
Jason King, 54, fired the weapon at PC Curtis Foster after stabbing a neighbour, a man in his 60s, following an altercation in Downley, Wycombe, on 10 May last year.
PC Foster was struck in the leg by a crossbow bolt while King chased after him and his fellow unarmed officer.
Jason King armed with the crossbow chases the officer. Pic: Thames Valley Police
King stabbed his neighbour in the stomach following an altercation. Pic: Thames Valley Police
“I knew something had impacted me, but my adrenaline was so high that the pain wasn’t really there,” PC Foster said.
“I first realised I was bleeding quite a lot when I could feel it running down my leg, and then I touched my leg with above my trousers, and my whole hand was red where it’d gone through my trousers already.”
PC Foster and his colleague cleared the area of civilians, while armed officers chased King to a local park.
King also fired the crossbow at a police dog but missed.
He was ordered to drop the weapon, but instead started running with it in hand towards the exit of the park to where PC Foster had escaped.
An armed officer fired one shot at King, striking him in the abdomen, to stop him.
PC Curtis Foster was hit in the leg by a crossbow bolt shot by King. Pic: Thames Valley Police
PC Foster. Pic: Thames Valley Police
‘Covered in my blood’
As King was apprehended, paramedics and his fellow officers treated the seriously injured PC Foster.
“There was a lot of blood. My two colleagues that turned up initially on scene were covered in my blood – that’s how much blood I’d lost,” PC Foster said.
“When we got to the hospital, the doctor had a feel of it and said that I was really lucky it didn’t strike an artery. It was a couple of centimetres away from hitting an artery in the back of my leg.”
PC Foster has since made a full recovery, as did the neighbour King stabbed.
King himself was taken to hospital under police supervision with potentially life-changing injuries and was discharged 10 days later, when he was arrested and taken into police custody.
King was apprehended by armed police officers in a nearby park. Pic: Thames Valley Police
On Wednesday, King was jailed at Aylesbury Crown Court for nine years with a further three years on extended licence having previously pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, having an article with a blade or point, having an offensive weapon, wounding with intent and affray regarding the incident.
“Jason King will now serve a substantial prison sentence as a result of his violent actions on 10 May 2024. The community and residents of Downley are much safer for it,” said senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Nick Hind.
He added: “The courage of our officers in dealing with this incident was second to none.”
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‘Significant threat to police’
DI Hind explained that the impact the incident had in the local community couldn’t be underestimated as King was “an extremely dangerous man, who posed a significant threat to police, other emergency services and members of the community”.
A mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct was made after the police shooting of King.
The IOPC, which concluded its investigation in November, commended “everybody involved in this incident”, according to DI Hind.
A member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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