Rachel Reeves’s record as Chancellor slammed as ‘pretty abysmal’ by Sir Mel Stride after Cabinet exit

Rachel Reeves was dealt a scathing verdict by Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride, who described her time at the Treasury as “pretty abysmal”.

Speaking to GB News, the Tory MP said his former opposite number had left the British economy in a “very perilous state” while at the helm of the nation’s finances.

“I'm afraid her record in office has been pretty abysmal,” Sir Mel began.

“She has left the economy in a very perilous state. She's overtaxed, she's overborrowed, she's overspent.”

The Shadow Chancellor also pointed to rising unemployment as evidence of Labour's economic failings.

“We've seen unemployment rocketing up to a five-year high, particularly bad for young people,” he said.

“So I'm afraid the record has not been good.”

Despite his brutal verdict, Sir Mel hailed Ms Reeves’s place in history as Britain's first female Chancellor.

He also acknowledged she had attempted to reduce welfare spending but was blocked by Labour backbenchers, an issue he predicted would haunt her successor.

Sir Mel warned he expected “more spending, more taxing, more borrowing” under New Prime Minister Andy Burnham who would “double down on the kind of mistakes that the (Sir Keir) Starmer government made”.

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