Labour insiders allege the PM has set up a Budget Board with weekly meetings to prevent Reeves repeating blunders such as increasing National Insurance contributions for employers and ending winter fuel payments

19:39, 14 Sep 2025Updated 19:39, 14 Sep 2025

Keir Starmer has allegedly ‘lost confidence’ in Rachel Reeves(Image: Daily Star)

Lettuce 2.0 Rachel Reeves is a “Chancellor in name only” as Keir Starmer has created his own team to run the economy, it is claimed.

Labour insiders allege the PM has set up a Budget Board with weekly meetings to prevent Reeves repeating blunders such as increasing National Insurance contributions for employers and ending winter fuel payments.

They claim Starmer has “lost confidence” in the Chancellor but is reluctant to sack her after previously vowing she would be doing the job “for a very long time to come”.

A former Labour frontbencher said: “She is the Chancellor in name only now.

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer its at a table as he speaks to Israel's President Isaac Herzog (not pictured) to 10 Downing Street on September 10, 2025 in London, England. Starmer is welcoming Herzog to Downing Street as pro-Palestinian groups have called for Herzog's arrest for his role in alleged war crimes in Gaza. Herzog's three-day visit comes ahead of the UK's expected recognition of a Palestinian state, "unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire, and commit to a long-term sustainable peace reviving the prospect of a two-state solution," according to Starmer's previous pledge. (Photo by Alberto Pezzali - WPA Pool/Getty Images)Reeves is reportedly ‘Chancellor in name only'(Image: WPA Pool, Getty Images)

“There is a shadow treasury team run out of Number 10. That is where economic policy is being made.”

It is claimed the team has also been set up to ensure Reeves’s Budget in November does not cause more damage.

The setting up of the new team comes after the PM earlier this month created new roles, such as appointing former Treasury minister Darren Jones, as his Chief Secretary.

Bank of England deputy governor Baroness Minouche Shafik, also became his economic adviser and former senior Treasury official Daniel York-Smith was appointed as his Principal Private Secretary.

Confidence in the PM has been rocked in recent weeks after Lord Mandelson was sacked over his friendship with late paedo Jeffrey Epstein and deputy PM Angela Rayner resigned after admitting that she should have paid more stamp duty tax when she bought a flat.

Party sources reckon they could be hammered in next year’s Scottish, Welsh and local elections.

One Labour MP believes the PM could be replaced by the end of the year, adding: “I think Starmer is on the brink. It’s very, very serious. He’s one more mistake away from having to go. I think he is in the danger zone.”

A Number 10 source said: “The Prime Minister and Chancellor work together in lockstep. They’ve spent the first year cleaning up the mess the Tories left behind.

“We have fixed the foundations, securing three trade deals that deliver for the British people, five interest rate cuts, and wages are growing faster than prices.”