‘No one raised concerns with me’: Chancellor Rachel Reeves responds to expenses allegations | Politics News

Rachel Reeves says “no one ever raised any concerns” about her expenses when she worked at HBOS, as she responds to reports she was investigated while working for the bank.

The chancellor was accused by former employees of being involved in an “expenses scandal” while working at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) from 2006 to 2009, according to the BBC.

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Speaking for the first time in public after the reports, Ms Reeves said: “No one ever raised any concerns about my expenses when I worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland.

“I submitted, had processed and had my expenses signed off in the proper way as you would expect, and no issues were ever raised during my time at Halifax Bank of Scotland.”

She added: “I was never questioned, never asked to pay back any expenses.”

Yesterday, Ms Reeves‘ spokesperson said she was “not aware of an investigation, nor was she interviewed”. Her lawyer has denied the allegations.

Jayne Wayper, former HR business partner for HBOS, said: “I do not recognise any of the accusations or claims that have been made against Rachel Reeves.”

Ms Reeves added that people will judge her on how well she does at her job as chancellor, rather than on her LinkedIn profile.

Her career history was changed following reports from the BBC that the amount of time that she claimed to have worked for the Bank of England was inaccurate.

The chancellor said: “I worked as an economist at the Bank of England between 2000 and 2006 before going to work in financial services for Halifax Bank of Scotland.

“And I’m really proud of the work that I did before I became an MP, but in the end, people are going to judge me on the job that I’m doing now as chancellor of the exchequer to grow the economy and put more money in the pockets of working people.”

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Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch had earlier said that Ms Reeves had “very, very serious questions to answer” over the reports.

She said: “Keir Starmer said that he was bringing in a government of integrity.

“He’s lost one minister due to corruption allegations. Another one has had to resign because of fraud that was committed while she was working – and this is pretty close to that.”

Sir Keir Starmer has given his full backing to his chancellor.