Rachel Reeves gets Keir Starmer's backing after tears in the Commons

The British prime minister said: 'It’s got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves was emotional during Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons/UK Parliament)

Rachel Reeves will be Britain's Chancellor for a “very long time to come”, Keir Starmer has said after she was seen crying during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The British prime minister said it was “absolutely wrong” to suggest the Chancellor’s visibly tearful appearance in the House of Commons related to the welfare U-turn, which put an almost £5bn black hole in her plans.

“It’s got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her.

“I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It is a personal matter,” he added while speaking to the BBC’s podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson.

Asked if Ms Reeves would remain in her post, Mr Starmer said: “She will be Chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be Chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we’ve been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the Chancellor and I’ve been working on together.”

The Chancellor has done a “fantastic job”, Mr Starmer also told the BBC, adding: “She and I work together, we think together. In the past, there have been examples — I won’t give any specific — of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”

Markets took fright after scenes of Ms Reeves’s tears spread, with the value of the pound and long-term Government bonds slumping sharply.

Kemi Badenoch said the Chancellor looked ‘absolutely miserable’ (House of Commons/UK Parliament)

In the Commons, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged Mr Starmer to say whether she would keep her job until the next election.

Mr Starmer dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch “certainly won’t”.

Downing Street then insisted Ms Reeves was “going nowhere” and will remain as Chancellor.

Allies, meanwhile, said she was dealing with a “personal matter” when asked about her tears.

Mr Starmer, who stumbled on his way out of Downing Street for Prime Minister’s Questions, faced questions over his handling of a welfare reform package, which has been stripped of key elements to limit the scale of a Labour revolt.

Changes to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday, just 90 minutes before MPs voted on them, 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.

As Ms Reeves left the Commons after Prime Minister’s Questions, her sister, Ellie Reeves, took her hand in an apparent show of support.

Reports suggested Ms Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle shortly before Prime Minister’s Questions.

Mr Hoyle was said to have censured Ms Reeves for her approach to Treasury Questions earlier in the week, and the Chancellor reportedly responded that she had been “under so much pressure”.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hoyle said: “No comment.”

Asked why Mr Starmer did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Ms Reeves, his press secretary told reporters: “He has done so repeatedly.

“The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the prime minister’s full backing.

“He has said it plenty of times, he doesn’t need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.”

Asked whether Ms Starmer still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: “Yes.”

Labour has promised that income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT will not be increased, restricting Ms Reeves’s options for raising money if she does look to hike taxes.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’s incoming director, Helen Miller, said: “Since departmental spending plans are now effectively locked in, and the Government has already had to row back on planned cuts to pensioner benefits and working-age benefits, tax rises would look increasingly likely.

“This will doubtless intensify the speculation over the summer about which taxes may rise and by how much.”

Mr Starmer declined to rule out tax rises later this year, telling MPs: “No prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.”