Chancellor Believes Honesty Is The Best Policy Ahead Of Budget

Chatting to host Gabriel Nussbaum on the personal finance programme That Money Show, the Chancellor explained how she believed people needed to be more open about their finances "I guess, sort of one of the things that I've had to grapple with since becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer is the sort of hole in the public finances. And some people have said to me, oh, because you've been honest about the state of the public finances, that has made people gloomy about the economy. Well, the alternative is not being honest about the scale of the challenge. And I've always believed that being honest and open and transparent is the best policy approach, and also shouldn't treat people like fools, and we should be open about the scale of the challenge, but then have a plan to fix it."

She continued: "And I'm not sure if this analogy exactly works, but I think people should be open and honest about their finances as well. And a lot of people I know in Britain do get into financial difficulty. The charity Step Change is based in Leeds, where I'm a member of parliament, and they do great work helping people who get into financial difficulty. But I think people should be open and honest about their finances and get help if you need it because there are a lot of people who are struggling with debt and aren't seeking support and advice."

The Labour MP also opened up about how her parent's spending habits have affected her decision-making ahead of the Budget “Well, something that I will always remember and had a big influence on me was my mum and how she managed her finances. My mum and dad were both primary school teachers, so we weren't poor, certainly not but we weren't well off. And my parents got divorced when I was quite young, and so there wasn't loads of money to go around. My mum had to be really careful with money, and every month when she'd got her bank statement, she would go through all of her receipts, because she kept them, and tick them off against the bank statement because she didn't have money to spare.”

She continued: “And I'm now Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I'm in charge of the public finances. But of course, the public finances also have a real impact on people's family finances, and I will always think of people like my mum and people with less money than that, who always have to make their sums up add up, and thinking about how, as a government, we can make it a little bit easier for ordinary working people to have a bit more money in their pockets to spend on the things that matter to them.”

Later in the interview, Reeves spoke about Labour’s plan to tackle the housing crisis and get young people on the property ladder “I think we need to do more to ensure that you don't have to rely on the bank of mum and dad to be able to buy your own home. If you're lucky enough that your parents perhaps have some equity in their home or have some savings that they're willing to donate or lend to you, that's great, but there are a lot of young people, and I know in my constituency in Leeds, but parents don't have those sorts of resources to be able to help their kids, and that's why we're looking at things like a guarantor scheme to help more young people get on the housing ladder. But I think the most important thing of all is to build homes.”