Rachel Reeves has been left feeling ‘sidelined’ after being dropped from Keir Starmer‘s trip to China, Labour MPs have warned.
The Chancellor had been expected to join Sir Keir on his ‘historic’ visit to Beijing this week after leading the charge in government for closer trade links with Beijing.
But she was dropped from the trip at the last minute and replaced by her junior Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.
The decision has triggered speculation at Westminster about a rift between the PM and his Chancellor, whose decisions have been the subject of a series of embarrassing government U-turns.
One Labour MP claimed Ms Reeves was ‘upset’ by the decision, adding: ‘She did a lot of the work to make this trip happen and now she’s been left behind. It’s hard not to feel you’re being sidelined in those circumstances.’
But another Labour insider suggested the Chancellor had been asked to stay behind to help steady the ship following Sir Keir’s controversial weekend decision to block Andy Burnham‘s bid to return to parliament, which has triggered a Labour civil war.
‘Things are so febrile that you don’t really want to risk having both the PM and Chancellor out of the country for a week,’ the source said.
Treasury sources insisted the late decision to send Ms Rigby reflected her status as City minister and the trip’s focus on improving access for financial services.
Sidelined: Rachel Reeves was dropped from the China trip despite helping to organise it
Ms Reeves was replaced on the trip by her junior minister Lucy Rigby (fourth in line)
Sir Keir has boasted that his trip to China will be ‘history making’
But the decision to send a relatively junior minister on a trip described by the PM as ‘history making’ has raised eyebrows. The only other minister travelling with Sir Keir is the business secretary Peter Kyle, who is a longstanding ally of the PM.
Labour’s push for closer ties with China has been driven by Ms Reeves as she casts around for ways to boost economic growth following two controversial tax-raising Budgets. The Treasury is pushing to lift trade barriers with Beijing and encourage Chinese investment in the UK.
In January last year she became the first senior Labour minister to visit China after the election, saying she wanted to ‘explore deeper economic co-operation’ with the communist superpower. She has spent months working with Sir Keir on planning for the visit.
Ms Reeves also discussed the trip last week with her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos.
A Treasury source denied that Ms Reeves had been sidelined by the PM. ‘It was decided as the schedule was finalised that the City Minister would accompany the delegation, given the financial services flavour to it,’ the source said.
But the apparent snub will fuel speculation at Westminster that the PM and Chancellor are no longer as close as they once were.
The Treasury has been blamed for a series of botched decisions that have forced the government to retreat on issues including pensioners’ winter fuel payments, planned cuts to disability benefits and, most recently, punishing increases in business rates for pubs and other hospitality firms.
Downing Street insists the pair continue to work ‘hand in glove’. But some Labour MPs believe the PM is gearing up to sack Ms Reeves if the local elections in May if the local elections go as badly for Labour as polls predict.
‘Someone’s head is going to have to roll and he is determined it won’t be his,’ said one.
