Rachel Reeves breaks law on own home – forces pensioners out of theirs | Personal Finance | Finance

Now we know she lied to Keir Starmer too, telling him she didn’t realise she needed a selective licence to rent out her London flat.

In fact, she did know. Two separate letting agents had warned her – she just chose to ignore them. When caught, she blamed her husband. When that didn’t wash, she hung out her letting agent. I’m only surprised she didn’t blame Nigel Farage.

Starmer brushed it off, saying there was no need for an ethics investigation, and he’s still saying that even though the facts have changed. When Angela Rayner faced a similar row over her property affairs, she was out.

But Reeves? She’s the PM’s favourite so she gets a pass. So much for Starmer’s principles.

Her hypocrisy is nauseating. As the Chancellor bends the rules to save herself £900 on a licence, she’s preparing a Budget that could force thousands of older homeowners to sell up.

Her November 26 package is shaping up to be another horror show, with pensioners the prime target.

Reeves earns £3,200 a month from renting out her property. That’s on top of her parliamentary ministerial salary and her husband’s salary, which lifts their total household income to at least £325,000.

Millions of cold, anxious pensioners can only dream of such an income, yet she still couldn’t stump up £900. At the same time, she’s reportedly planning to double council tax for more than a million households by creating new top bands.

Average bills for Band G homes could jump from £3,800 to £7,800, and for Band H from £4,580 to £9,120.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch warned this “will hammer people who’ve lived in the same house for decades, particularly pensioners, some of whom will be unable to pay this new tax and be forced out of their home”. Nigel Farage said it would cause “huge consternation amongst older people”.

This comes on top of the extra income tax and inheritance tax Reeves may pile on, while targeting retired people’s pension and Cash ISA savings too.

No wonder she’s the most unpopular chancellor in living memory. The real scandal is that she’s still chancellor at all.