{"id":557529,"date":"2026-04-29T20:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557529\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:56:11","slug":"senior-uk-ministers-deride-rachel-reevess-reported-plan-of-year-long-rent-freeze-rachel-reeves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557529\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior UK ministers deride Rachel Reeves\u2019s reported plan of year-long rent freeze | Rachel Reeves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior ministers have poured scorn on the idea of freezing private sector rents for a year, less than 48 hours after the Guardian revealed<\/a> Rachel Reeves was considering it.<\/p>\n

Steve Reed, the housing secretary, and Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, became the latest government figures to criticise the idea, which has since been ruled out<\/a> by No 10.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s split over the idea has fed speculation about Reeves\u2019 job after reports over the weekend that Keir Starmer<\/a> was intending to sack her after the local elections.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer failed to guarantee she would remain in place during Wednesday\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s Questions, though Downing Street insists she retains the prime minister\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

Pennycook said on Wednesday about the rent freeze: \u201cWe are not doing this. It\u2019s not a credible or serious policy proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI can\u2019t remember how many times I\u2019m on record of saying this government has no intention, does not agree with rent controls, and there are really good reasons for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe exhaustively went through the evidence of countries like Sweden, Germany, cities like San Francisco. Look at the Scottish experience. Now look at what happens to rent increases outside of tenancies where you have that form of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some experts argue that rent controls bring down rents for regulated homes, but push up those that fall outside the policy, whether they are in the same area or nearby.<\/p>\n

Pennycook\u2019s comments came after Reed gave a similarly scathing response to the idea, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve been crystal clear \u2013 we\u2019re not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The immediate pushback to the idea has prompted renewed questions over the chancellor\u2019s future in government.<\/p>\n

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, asked the prime minister in the Commons on Wednesday: \u201cThis is not a serious way to run the economy \u2026 Will he listen to businesses, listen to the country, and reshuffle the chancellor?\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer responded by praising Reeves, but did not explicitly guarantee she would not be replaced as he has done in the past.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer during Wednesday\u2019s PMQs. Photograph: House of Commons\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Downing Street said afterwards: \u201c[The prime minister has] full confidence in the chancellor.\u201d Asked to repeat Starmer\u2019s previous guarantee that she would remain in post until the next election, a spokesperson said: \u201cThat position remains unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reeves\u2019 allies have dismissed reports over the weekend<\/a> that the prime minister was intending to sack her as \u201cone final roll of the dice\u201d to stay in power after heavy local election losses. One described it as \u201cbollocks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reeves herself spent Wednesday morning speaking at an all-staff meeting in the Treasury, flanked by her ministerial team, thanking officials and urging them to press ahead with the government\u2019s mission of kickstarting economic growth.<\/p>\n

Treasury sources said she highlighted recent decisions, including cuts to utility bills in November\u2019s budget; and repeated her insistence on avoiding a costly kneejerk response to the Iran crisis.<\/p>\n

One ally insisted the chancellor\u2019s tone was \u201cmassively upbeat\u201d and forward-looking, promising more detail soon on AI policy and the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU.<\/p>\n

However, a source close to Reeves\u2019s team suggested they had been spooked by recent reporting<\/a> about divisions in No 10 over whether to hold an immediate reshuffle after next week\u2019s local elections.<\/p>\n

City investors are watching Labour\u2019s internal ructions closely, with some warning the prospect of a leadership race could push up the yield, or interest rate, on government bonds, still further.<\/p>\n

A research note from analysts at the investment bank Jefferies called next week\u2019s polls \u201cthe local elections markets can\u2019t ignore\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yields have already risen sharply since the outbreak of the Middle East war as investors fear higher inflation and rising interest rates, potentially wiping out much of Reeves\u2019s \u201cheadroom\u201d against her fiscal rules.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s borrowing costs jumped afresh on Wednesday amid fears of a prolonged conflict, with 10-year yields at their highest closing level since 2008, well above 5%. Reeves\u2019s allies believe the threat of gilt market chaos is a strong argument for keeping her in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior ministers have poured scorn on the idea of freezing private sector rents for a year, less than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-557529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}