UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has made a strong defense of her trustworthiness in managing Britain’s finances during heated parliamentary exchanges, asserting that she remains credible despite allegations that she misled the public in the lead-up to her latest Budget announcement.

The political clash centers on scrutiny of Budget leaks and questions about internal communications and fiscal transparency surrounding the government’s economic plans. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has leveled sharp criticism at both Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer regarding how they handled the Budget preparations, expressing particular dissatisfaction with Reeves’ denial of the misleading claims.

Reeves unveiled a Budget featuring £26 billion in tax measures, which has drawn fierce condemnation from the opposition. Badenoch has characterized the Budget as a “smorgasbord of misery” and a “Budget for Benefits Street,” accusing Reeves of breaking multiple manifesto commitments. These alleged broken promises span critical areas including returns for savers, tax treatment of pensioners, and the business investment environment in Britain.

The Conservative leader specifically highlights Reeves’ contradiction regarding income tax threshold freezes. Reeves previously stated in an earlier budget that freezing thresholds would harm working people, yet the latest Budget extends this freeze. Badenoch questions how the public can believe any of Reeves’ commitments given this reversal, raising serious questions about the Chancellor’s credibility.

The controversial Budget increases taxes on workers, pensioners, and savers while simultaneously raising benefit payments for 560,000 families by an average of £5,000. Badenoch contends this represents using taxpayers’ money to purchase votes from Labour’s own MPs. She further criticizes Reeves for abandoning welfare reforms that could have saved taxpayers £5 billion, while adding £3 billion to expenditure by scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

Badenoch’s criticism extends to the broader business impact, noting that one in eight business leaders plans to leave Britain, and citing that even Labour’s major donor Lakshmi Mittal has reportedly departed. She describes Reeves as “spineless, shameless and completely aimless” and has called for her resignation, dubbing her the “worst-ever Chancellor” and suggesting this Budget “really should be her last.”

In response, Reeves maintains her position that she deserves to be trusted with the nation’s finances. However, Badenoch remains unsatisfied with this denial, questioning whether the public can reasonably place confidence in the Chancellor given the documented broken promises and perceived deception surrounding the Budget’s development.