Labour MPs are hopping mad – now Rachel Reeves goes to catch it | Personal Finance | Finance | EUROtoday

Labour held the Gorton and Denton seat for greater than a century. Not anymore. Jack Polanski’s cynical and sectarian Green Party swept them into third place in final week’s controversial by-election and Labour MPs are in meltdown. They can see the identical factor taking place in their very own constituencies, come the subsequent election. Even Starmer might battle to maintain his seat.

Only one particular person can save them. That particular person is Rachel Reeves. Don’t chuckle. She’s a key motive why Labour is on this black pit of despair. But she’s additionally the one one with the spade to dig them out of it. Which solely goes to point out how unhealthy issues have gotten.

Everyone’s depressing and indignant, and our flatlining economic system is a giant motive. People really feel skint and worry for his or her livelihoods. The Greens could also be on a unique planet, however successful candidate Hannah Spencer struck a chord when she mentioned “working laborious used to get you one thing”. It doesn’t seem to do that anymore.

It’s Reeves’ job to fix that. So far, she’s failed horribly. Next week she’s back on the frontline and she can’t afford to fail again.

The UK economy was showing the green shoots of recovery when Reeves marched into No 11 and ripped them up. In the last three months of 2025, our GDP grew just 0.1%.

Unemployment is rising, youngsters can’t find jobs, welfare claims are rocketing, companies are collapsing, entrepreneurs fleeing and the tax take is at an all-time high. The unreformed public sector gobbles up all the extra spending, and demands more.

The rest of the cabinet isn’t helping. Ed Miliband’s net zero levies are driving up energy bills and pushing industry abroad. Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill will make companies even more hesitant to hire. Starmer’s plan to build 300,000 homes a year has flopped, exactly as I predicted.

In the run to last year’s Budget, Reeves spread chaos every time she opened her mouth. Since then, she’s decided to keep quiet.

Tuesday’s Spring Statement should be her big day, but many in the Treasury would rather she hid in a cupboard than deliver it. Instead, her plan is to say nothing of note, to prevent panic. That strategy won’t work now. Labour MPs want action. Mostly, they want to keep their jobs. None of them want to hunt for work in today’s jobs market.

Reeves is relying on economic events swinging in her favour and she may get lucky. Interest rates are falling, inflation is retreating and so are borrowing costs.

But Reeves is not a lucky chancellor, so she can’t rely on that. Especially since war in Iran could drive the oil price and inflation back up. She needs to get the economy moving. She needs to do… something.

Labour MPs are demanding big, bold moves. They want her to move to the left, to see off the Greens. That means more tax hikes, more spending, more nationalisation.

Reeves has learned her lesson. She knows that’s madness. But she may be forced into those growth-destroying measures anyway.

Today’s challenges would take a look at the most effective chancellor. Instead, now we have one of many worst. Reeves has nowhere to cover. The worst bit is that she would not have a plan, and everybody is aware of it. Those Labour MPs higher begin brushing up their CVs.