British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ tax-hiking budget prompted criticism from businesses and farmers, and despite Labour pledging to boost the economy at the centre of its plans, growth has been sluggish. Now the chancellor is facing questions about whether she exaggerated her experience on her online CV and her use of expenses while working in the banking sector before she became an MP.

Her career at HBOS has come under scrutiny, after the BBC revealed that Reeves and two colleagues were the subject of an expenses probe while she was a senior manager at the bank. The initial stage of the HBOS investigation found that a whistleblower’s complaint was substantiated, and the three employees appeared to have broken the rules, according to a senior source with direct knowledge of the probe. The BBC has not been able to establish what the final outcome of the investigation was and it might not have concluded.

A spokesman for Reeves said the chancellor had no knowledge of the investigation, always complied with expenses rules and left the bank on good terms. A spokesman for Reeves said the chancellor had no knowledge of the investigation, always complied with expenses rules and left the bank on good terms. A spokesman for Reeves confirmed that dates on her LinkedIn were inaccurate and blamed an administrative error by the team.

Last year, her LinkedIn profile was also changed to describe her role at HBOS as “Retail Banking”. It had previously claimed she worked as an economist at the bank, but she instead held a management role in the bank’s customer relations department, which dealt with complaints. Entering Parliament in 2010, an early mentor on economic policy was Alistair Darling – the last Labour chancellor, during the financial crisis.

She quickly rose up the party’s ranks, shadowing roles at the Treasury, Work and Pensions, and the Cabinet Office.

Throughout Jeremy Corbyn’s four and a half years as Labour leader, she remained on the backbenches because she felt she could not endorse his policies. Called a “Red Tory” by some in the party, she described this as a “very unpleasant period” in an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson.

In October 2023, she admitted she “should have done better” after it emerged some passages in her book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics, had been lifted from other sources without acknowledgment. She told the BBC some sentences “were not properly referenced” and this would be corrected in future reprints.

Last July, Reeves became the country’s first female chancellor and quickly faced what she described as “tough choices”.

She claimed a “black hole” in the nation’s finances meant winter fuel payments would have to be cut for millions of pensioners and National Insurance hiked for employers.

Despite Labour’s attempts to win over businesses during the election campaign, many were disappointed they bore the brunt of the £40bn in tax rises announced in her first Budget. Before winning power, Reeves promised she would govern with “iron discipline” and bring stability to the public finances, leading to comparisons with Conservative “Iron Chancellor” Margaret Thatcher.

On Friday, Reeves was asked about the expenses claims directly. She said: “No-one ever raised any concerns about my expenses when I worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland.” She said her expenses had been “signed off in the proper way” and “no issues were ever raised” during her time at the bank.

Her expenses were signed off by her manager, who was also one of the three employees who were the subject of the expenses probe. Reeves left the bank in May 2009, as did her boss. The other senior manager was on sick leave in May and never returned to work at the bank. There is no suggestion any of the departures were linked to the investigation or spending issues and a spokesman for Reeves said the chancellor left the bank on good terms. Reeves has accepted the findings of another part of our investigation, this time over her CV. We established that the chancellor had exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England. The BBC News investigation revealed that concerns were raised about Reeves’s expenses while working at HBOS between 2006 and 2009. A detailed six-page whistleblowing complaint was submitted, with dozens of pages of supporting documents including emails, receipts and memos.

The complaint led to an internal investigation by the bank’s risk department.

This was passed to internal audit, which reviewed the allegations and concluded that they were substantiated and there appeared to be evidence of wrongdoing by Reeves and her two colleagues, according to a senior source with direct knowledge of the investigation. What we have not been able to establish is what happened next and whether the bank ever reached a formal conclusion.

On Friday, Science Secretary Peter Kyle told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the reporting was “inaccurate”.

Both he and Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP who appeared on BBC’s Politics Live on Thursday, raised comments by a former HR manager, Jane Wayper – which, they said, disproved the BBC News’s story.

Wayper spoke to the BBC after being given permission to do so by Reeves’s team.

She provided an on-the-record statement which said she “would have been made aware of any investigation which concluded there was a case to answer” on the basis that she “would have been required to organise and oversee a disciplinary process”. However, the BBC has not reported that the case reached a formal conclusion, or that there was disciplinary action. Kyle incorrectly claimed that the quote had not been included in our report – but it had been in the article since it was first published on Thursday morning. He also incorrectly referred to Wayper as the head of HR at the bank. In reality she was an HR business partner working in the department where Reeves worked. On Friday, Reeves was asked about the expenses claims directly. She said: “No-one ever raised any concerns about my expenses when I worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland.” She said her expenses had been “signed off in the proper way” and “no issues were ever raised” during her time at the bank. Her expenses were signed off by her manager, who was also one of the three employees who were the subject of the expenses probe. Reeves left the bank in May 2009, as did her boss. The other senior manager was on sick leave in May and never returned to work at the bank. There is no suggestion any of the departures were linked to the investigation or spending issues and a spokesman for Reeves said the chancellor left the bank on good terms. We established that the chancellor had exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England. Reeves has often said she spent the “best part of a decade” working at the bank when setting out her credentials to run the economy to voters.

However, her LinkedIn profile said she only worked there for six years – from September 2000 to December 2006. A year of that time was spent studying at the London School of Economics (LSE).

The BBC has now established that Reeves left the Bank of England in March 2006, meaning the time she spent working there amounts to five and a half years. A spokesman for Reeves confirmed that dates on her LinkedIn were inaccurate and said it was due to an administrative error by the team. Her profile on the social media site has since been updated.

Shame on both the Prime Minister & the Chancellor!!

Sunil Dharmabandhu

Wales, UK