Labour MPs with finance-facing roles, such as those on the Treasury and business select committees, shared similar analysis privately.
One MP with a background in economics, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they were “not concerned” and “nothing material has changed in the last week from the U.K. side.”
But others looking further ahead confessed to deep worry about how the government will fund its promises to repair the NHS, address major court backlogs and keep local authorities afloat.
A Labour MP from the 2024 intake said colleagues haven’t yet fully grasped that “it’s going to make life very difficult indeed,” while a second new Labour MP described the picture as “really challenging” for fulfilling their manifesto commitments.
Two more MPs voiced frustration that Reeves and Prime Minister Starmer had still not yet developed “a proper, positive narrative” to offset all the warnings of economic doom and gloom.
Reeves ally O’Neill argued that while 80 percent of bond turmoil is down to external factors, the remaining 20 percent is the markets signaling that they don’t have any faith in Labour’s plans to stabilize and grow the economy.
“They are going to have to be tough on spending,” he said. “Otherwise the markets are right to have doubted them.”
James Fitzgerald contributed to this report.
