Rachel Reeves may be unpopular, but she is quietly rebalancing UK plc
Reeves is deeply unpopular, but her Treasury changes are pushing more power and spending toward the regions.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The Guardian says Rachel Reeves may not survive politically, but her economic approach could outlast her: more borrowing room, more regional investment, and more power for metro mayors. The article frames this as a quiet attempt to rebalance growth away from London and the South East.
Rachel Reeves is trying to move money and power away from just London and spread it across more parts of the UK, like giving different towns bigger tools to build their own future. It is like fixing a house by upgrading several rooms at once instead of only painting the front door.
Analysis
Rachel Reeves is portrayed as a politically weakened chancellor whose reputation has been damaged by a series of reversals, including winter fuel support, disability benefit cuts, the climbdown on farmers’ inheritance tax, and the rise in employer national insurance contributions. Polling is cited showing she is viewed unfavourably by a large majority of respondents.
But the piece argues that her economic legacy may be more durable than her popularity. Reeves has tried to address what she sees as a long-term problem: chronic underinvestment and weak regional growth. To make room for more capital spending, she changed the fiscal rules to allow greater borrowing. She has also directed more support to social housing and net zero, and has focused on what she calls “dense, interconnected city regions” as the places most likely to generate the biggest gains from public investment.
The article highlights two concrete examples. One is the OxCam corridor, where Reeves has backed public investment and a new development corporation for Greater Cambridge. The other is the planned Universal theme park in Bedfordshire, which is being supported by £1.3bn in public investment, including transport links.
A quieter but potentially more important change is the rewrite of the Treasury’s green book so it is no longer tilted toward London and the South. Treasury officials are also working on a plan to give metro mayors a share of tax revenues, starting with income tax. The Guardian says this could let mayoralties borrow against future income and make more independent decisions about projects. Reeves has also already given city regions five-year transport budgets and rolled many funding pots into integrated settlements to increase flexibility.
Key points
- Reeves is highly unpopular politically, but the article says her growth strategy may outlast her.
- She has changed the fiscal rules to allow more borrowing for investment.
- The Treasury has rewritten the green book to reduce its bias toward London and the South.
- Metro mayors are being promised more fiscal power, including a possible share of income tax revenue.
- Big projects such as the OxCam corridor and the Universal theme park are presented as examples of her approach.
If Reeves’s plans keep moving, regions outside London could get more freedom, more transport money and more investment to support jobs and growth. The article suggests that this could help projects get built faster and make the UK economy less lopsided.
The political risk is that Reeves may not stay in office long enough to finish what she started. The article also implies resistance from local councils, scepticism from voters and the danger that unpopular tax choices overshadow the longer-term economic strategy.
