Rachel Reeves Pitches for Chancellor Role Under Incoming PM Andy Burnham

LONDON — Keir Starmer’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Andy Burnham will be Britain’s next prime minister as she pitched the U.K.’s leader-in-waiting on continuing to steer the country’s finances on Thursday.

Tax rises across her two budgets and her tight grip on public spending ensured that Starmer’s government reduced government borrowing below 5 percent of GDP for the first time since 2019, Reeves told the British Chambers of Commerce Global Annual Conference Thursday morning in Westminster.

“Andy has been really explicit that he backs those fiscal rules. And the key thing about those fiscal rules: they pay for day-to-day spending through taxes, and that is where the discipline really comes in,” she said.

Getting debt down as a share of the economy, she argued, had allowed the government to unlock £120 billion in capital investment.

Reeves' bid to remain at the helm of No. 11 comes despite reports suggesting Burnham, who is likely to become Britain's next prime minister after Starmer resigned, will demote her to a different role in any future cabinet. Other candidates, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, are also expected to be considered for the role.

Reeves said that she has “more to do” as chancellor, pointing to seeing through a new “visitor levy” or tourist tax that allows local authorities across the U.K. to charge an extra fee on overnight stays, and other measures that would see portions of income tax spending devolved to the local and regional level. Burnham backs these initiatives, she said.

The chancellor said that she remains “proud” of her record, but acknowledged that Starmer’s government “had very poor results” in May’s local elections and the Scottish and Welsh elections just a few weeks ago.

“Clearly, we need to do more to connect to the country, to tell a better story in government, but also to have a vision for where we want the country to go,” Reeves said. “That is what Andrew will be able to provide as our next prime minister. He is a great communicator,” she explained, pointing to his track record of delivering as the mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017.

The conflict in the Middle East, instigated by the Trump administration’s bombing of Iran at the end of February, will continue to act as a drag on Britain’s economy and other countries globally as GDP forecasts for this year are downgraded, Reeves acknowledged.

Despite the conflict, inflation fell in April and held steady at 2.8 percent in May, Reeves pointed out.

“You do have an economy that's growing, you do have an economy where inflation, government borrowing are under control, and for whoever is prime minister, whoever is chancellor in a few weeks,” she said, “will have a better economy that is growing more strongly, that is more secure, that is more stable than the economy that I inherited.”