The Shadow Chancellor has said she “winces” at her bank balance being “increasingly short” at the end of the month despite earning a whopping £86,000 a year. Rachel Reeves takes home more than double the average UK salary which was pre-tax around £38,000 as of November last year.
The Reeves household income has also been much higher than average, with her husband civil servant Nick Joicey earning between £170,000 and £174,999 in 2022 as director general of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat at the Cabinet Office.
Ms Reeves, who will take home nearly £60,000 a year after tax, was asked if she “winces” seeing what HMRC take from her pay packet.
She replied to GB News: “What makes me wince is when I look at my bank statement and I find that the money coming in is increasingly short of the money going out, whether it’s the mortgage or the gas and electricity bills, the weekly shop.
“All the money that all of us spend over Christmas is putting a huge toll on family finances and I think very few people are not feeling the effects of that.”
A Conservative source told the Mail Online: “If the shadow chancellor can’t run her own bank account, how on earth does she expect the public to trust her with the economy?”
In a speech this week Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party were focused on growing the economy before deciding on any sweeping tax cuts.
However Ms Reeves said her “instinct” was “taxes on working people should be lower than they are today” adding that she “would like them to be lower”. Ms Reeves had been out campaigning this week in Wellingborough, Northants, ahead of ahead of an expected by-election there next month.
At a campaign poster launch, Ms Reeves declared that taxpayers are being straddled with an additional tax burden of £1,200 for an average family this year.
However, this was later called out for being false and the Labour Party confirmed that the Shadow Chancellor “misspoke.”
Sir Keir Starmer hit out at critics accusing Labour of lacking detailed policies, as the party prepares for a gruelling general election campaign later this year.
He pointed to “five big mission launches, big speeches, backing documents” to argue that his party’s offering to voters was clear. Alongside plans to improve living standards, Sir Keir stressed plans to halve violence against women and girls.
Asked how he plans to deliver growth, he said he would “work with the private sector to invest in the future”.
