Rachel Reeves, the British Minister of Finance, suffered a tear on Wednesday in the House of Commons, under the pressure of criticism and questions about her political future.
A viral tear in the United Kingdom. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Echiquier – the British equivalent of the Minister of Finance – fell in love with the House of Commons on Wednesday July 2. The stealthy but visible gesture surprised to its opponents. Built a tear on the government bench, this moment of vulnerability immediately made the buzz on the other side of the English Channel.
At 46, she became last year, the first woman to occupy this prestigious position in the United Kingdom. This former economist at the Bank of England defends a policy of rigor in tax matters and has the objective of bringing the kingdom’s budget back to balance in the coming years. But this will arouses strong tensions within its own camp, some judging that it sacrifices the social aspect.
This Wednesday, while parliamentarians were rolled out around a reform of social assistance, her government had to withdraw certain savings measures which it defended after the sling of 49 Labor deputies. This decline cost around 5 billion pounds to the budget, forcing Reeves to consider new savings or possible tax increases.
During the session, conservative opposition Kemi Badenoch challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer by accusing him of using Rachel Reeves as a “human shield” and claiming that deputies thought that she was “finished”. Badenoch asked the Prime Minister if he could confirm that the Minister would remain in her post until the next elections. The latter carefully avoided the question, thus strengthening the feeling of political fragility of his minister.
The cameras then showed Rachel Reeves wiping a tear on the government bench, while Angela Rayner, number two of the Labor Party, addressed a few words of comfort to him.
In the afternoon, Keir Starmer’s office tried to defuse controversy by ensuring that the chancellor “is going nowhere” and that she benefits from the Prime Minister’s full support.
But the sequence illustrates the very delicate situation of Rachel Reeves. To keep its promise to balance budget, it must reconcile financial rigor and social priorities, an increasingly perilous exercise.
