Post your questions for Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,
Next week we’ll be back in Westminster to put your questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP.
If there’s something you’d like me to ask her - from the big economic picture to how the cost of living is affecting families (or anything else) - then please post your question below.

As ever, one question per user please, and keep it civil. We’ll be tight on time, so short, focused questions will help us get through as many as possible.

We’ll close the thread early on Sunday evening, so please do get your questions in before then. We’ll be back soon with her responses.

Thanks,
Justine

Why did you mislead the country about an impending rise in the rate of income tax?

Are you going to reverse the changes to bereavement support for children that lose a parent as promised by Labour?

Bereavement Support Payments now stop after just 18 months, whereas previously widowed parents received support until their children turned 18. What evidence does the government have that a child’s grief, financial need, and wellbeing suddenly end after 18 months—especially when they’ve lost both a parent and half their household income?

When do you plan to uprate Bereavement Support Payments in line with inflation and extend financial support beyond the current 18 month period? Labour disagreed with Widows Pension Allowance being scrapped for BSP in 2017 but have not yet reversed that policy. When will that happen?

I’m a Labour voter but Why on earth did she not foresee the impact of rising the minimum wage and the rates of employer NI? It results in a rise in the cost of living and a loss of jobs at the minimum wage level (ask young people how they are finding their entry level job hunting). It mostly impacts those it claims to be supporting and is obviously just a bone to the back benchers.

Why do they still continue to encourage people to think of student loans as some kind of graduate tax? There is no other tax which depends on whether or not your parents can pay. It seems to be the absolute anti these of what I would hope a Labour government would want to achieve.

In the Blair years I really felt that young people were being supported and helped to launch. Currently they are being sold down the river. If I was my my late teens and 20s I’d not give Labour a look in - which worries me because the alternatives look pretty awful.

Why are my children being disadvantaged because their dad died?

Bereavement Support is only for 18 months. They will no longer receive any financial support from the government. They are 9 years old.

They would get more financial support if the were in Kinship care or Foster care. Why are bereaved children being discriminated against?

Why is the Bereavement Support Payment limited to 18 months, not changed in value since 2017, and not continued until all children leave education? The £9.8k we are receiving barely paid for my husbands funeral. He paid NI for 35 years and we see nothing of his contributions. There's no widow's pension, no additional tax allowance, no support for solo parents and the families whose lives have been devastated.

We are 1 year on from the Supreme Court Judgment confirming that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex, rather than self identified gender. We know that for about 15 years Stonewall gave incorrect legal advice on this known as “Stonewall Law”. A study of just police forces confirmed over £1m spent on this. Recent FOIs seem to confirm that NHS Trusts and other national institutions are still following Stonewall Law and paying charities for this still unlawful advice. When will the Treasury put a stop to this sort of spending? Especially as it increasingly exposes the public purse to large legal bills when losing in court? Such as Darlington & Peggie cases at around £0.5m on legal bills each

When will you restore bereavement support payments so they are in line with inflation and extended to support families with young children until they leave full-time education, as was previously the case, and will you commit to bringing the UK in line with other countries that provide long-term support to bereaved families to prevent children falling into poverty?

Question for RR - how long do children grieve for? I bet it's much longer than the current Bereavement Support Payment of 18 months. Why are these children forgotten? My husband paid national insurance for over 40 years, but Bereavement support payment is only 18 months. Another blow when you've already lost a main income and trying to navigate life

It’ll be interesting if she blames the questions / comments around her performance on misogyny, considering mumsnet is predominantly women and mothers…

Very fed up women and mothers it seems.

When will you be resigning?

You seriously think she’s going to be asked those disrespectful questions?

i am sure a huge chunk of these questioners could be persuaded to vote Labour but they are convinced that you are no longer the party of working people. What are you doing to change people’s minds?

How is this thread disrespectful? If you’re in a high position of govt you should expect these sorts of questions.

There are sensible questions on this thread and there are disrespectful insults. Do you think the latter will be put to Reeves? Nobody should expect the kind of insult of some of these posts.

will you reverse the decisions you made to the motability scheme regarding vat etc? We are disabled not werewolves, the new black box rules stop disabled going out after 10pm.
Makes little sense that you needed to reduce the benefits bill yet started paying for those with more than two kids at the expense of disabled people. You robbed Peter to pay Paul.

also when will you be resigning?

I fully expect all the hard hitting questions will be ignored in favour of blabbing about breakfast clubs, inflation being down, 2 child cap lifted and those with the broadest shoulders (which means any average worker now) doing more.

Frankly this govt (like the previous) are a disgrace and not for working people. I’m very bored of the chancellor blaming any criticism on her being a woman when most of her party feign ignorance on what a woman is (many questions about the Supreme Court ruling here that Labour are ignoring on that note).

She chose to take the top job and the economy is tanking. Rightly that means she will be on the receiving end of people’s anger as they watch their money value rapidly decline.

I'm 59.

I have a number of medical issues that the DWP have assessed as, "No realistic prospect of working".

Why don't you consider allowing people over certain age with health issues that prevent them from working to retire and claim the old age pension?

I have been through various DLA and then PIP assessments as well as for ESA. It seems pointless for me to be reassessed every few years when my condition is not one that can improve.

Also my occupation pension is removed £ for £ from Universal Credit, if I was working and earning the same I would be allowed to keep half of it. It seems unfair to punish me for making pension contributions.

Why should I bother going to work, Rachel?

What are your Economics qualifications?

Are you aware that we are now expecting students to achieve mostly A* in their A levels, one of which must be Maths (and Further Maths for top unis) in order to study Economics, where they will accumulate at least 45k in student debt. What did you do to prepare for the role you now hold that gives you the knowledge and experience to set the economic policies for the country that affect us all?

How is it fair that as working adults we pay taxes from the time we start working but then when we fall upon hard times have no recourse to any benefits. My friend's husband was made redundant 6 months ago, and they are now struggling, but because she earns £50k and they own their house there are ZERO benefits available to them. They have a mortgage, cars, after school costs and other bills to pay, yet in the state's eyes they're not seen as in need of any support.

Agree I have just lost my job after 40 years of working in very difficult and stressful jobs. I have managed to secure a part time job on a lot less hours and pay but had I not done this all i would have been eligible for is £90 a week job seekers allowance for six months and my dh earns no-where near 50K. In return for this £90 a week I would need to apply for numerous jobs and attend the job centre along with many who have never done a days work in their lives. They really need to start treating people who have always worked a bit better.

Because we have to fund those with 3 kids who despite being aware that they would have to fund childcare, decided to work minimal hours or no hours at all, have no desire to earn more to fund their own kids properly and just need a ‘top up’! But they’ll vote for Labour anyway so don’t expect Rachel to give a shit - no child should go without is what she’ll say. Yeah, and no adult should have kids they can’t afford - either now or if circumstances change.

Hi Rachel. You were pictured crying at PMQs last year and that must have been a stressful time for you. Do you now regret that incident or do you feel that people should be less judged for showing often understandable emotions in the workplace?