Sense of relief among many Labour MPs but chancellor’s broad mix of measures leaves room for things to go wrong
When Rachel Reeves urged Labour MPs at a half-empty private meeting on Monday night to back her high-stakes budget, she told them that while they might not like everything in it, she was convinced that overall it was fair.
After weeks of anxiety on the backbenches over manifesto breaches and speculation over Keir Starmer’s leadership, she was determined to reassure them that her plans were Labour through and through – and would give them plenty to offer voters on the doorstep.
“A budget involves choices. Choices are things that we do, and also things that we don’t do. I hope that you like every single measure but you might not. The budget is a package. It’s not a pick and mix,” she told them.
But one of the chancellor’s biggest dangers as her budget is absorbed by the public and, crucially, Labour MPs and the markets in the coming days, is that it ends up looking like a handful of ideas grabbed at random.
