Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to cry in the Commons as Sir Keir Starmer declined to guarantee she would remain in place until the election.
The Prime Minister faced MPs after being forced to scrap key planks of his welfare reforms, leaving an almost £5 billion black hole in Ms Reeves’ spending plans and fuelling speculation she could be forced to hike taxes.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether the Chancellor would keep her job until the next election.
Sir Keir dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch “certainly won’t”.
The Tory leader said: “How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
Changes to restrict eligibility to the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday night to limit a Labour revolt, wiping out the savings that Ms Reeves had counted on to help meet her goal of funding day-to-day spending through tax receipts rather than borrowing.
Mrs Badenoch said the welfare reforms were designed “to plug a black hole created by the Chancellor” but “instead they’re creating new ones”.
She told Sir Keir: “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?”
Sir Keir responded with a defence of Labour’s record but no mention of the Chancellor’s position.
As the Chancellor left the Commons following the Prime Minister’s Questions session her sister Ellie Reeves took her hand in an apparent show of support.
