Rachel Reeves: What we have realized about her bills and Labour response

Since BBC Information reported on Thursday that Rachel Reeves had exaggerated her on-line CV and had been investigated over her use of bills whereas working at Halifax Financial institution of Scotland (HBOS), Labour colleagues have mounted a sturdy defence of the chancellor.

Sir Keir Starmer stated she had “handled any points that come up” from the questions on her CV, and Well being Secretary Wes Streeting informed BBC Newsnight that she was doing a “good and tough job”.

However Labour figures have questioned our reporting on the bills investigation, with one cupboard minister calling it completely inaccurate.

Right here we study the important thing Labour responses and take a look at the proof that helps our journalism.

The BBC Information investigation revealed that considerations have been raised about Reeves’s bills whereas working at HBOS between 2006 and 2009.

An in depth six-page whistleblowing criticism was submitted, with dozens of pages of supporting paperwork together with emails, receipts and memos.

It accused Reeves and two different managers, one among whom was her boss, of utilizing the financial institution’s cash to “fund a way of life”, with spending on occasions, taxis and items, together with for one another.

We’ve seen these paperwork and spoken to greater than 20 folks, lots of whom have been former colleagues.

The criticism led to an inner investigation by the financial institution’s threat division.

This was handed to inner audit, which reviewed the allegations and concluded that they have been substantiated and there seemed to be proof of wrongdoing by Reeves and her two colleagues, in response to a senior supply with direct data of the investigation.

What we have now not been in a position to set up is what occurred subsequent and whether or not the financial institution ever reached a proper conclusion.

Reeves has stated she was not conscious of an investigation or subject together with her bills and stated she left the financial institution on good phrases.

She stated her bills had at all times been signed off within the correct manner. The one who signed off her bills, her boss, was additionally topic to the inner investigation.

Different Labour figures have criticised BBC Information’s reporting on the story, with two MPs repeating comparable assaults.

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

Each he and Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP who appeared on BBC’s Politics Stay on Thursday, raised feedback by a former HR supervisor, Jane Wayper – which, they stated, disproved the BBC Information’s story.

Wayper spoke to the BBC after being given permission to take action by Reeves’s workforce.

She supplied an on-the-record assertion which stated she “would have been made conscious of any investigation which concluded there was a case to reply” on the idea that she “would have been required to organise and oversee a disciplinary course of”.

Nevertheless, the BBC has not reported that the case reached a proper conclusion, or that there was disciplinary motion.

Kyle incorrectly claimed that the quote had not been included in our report – but it surely had been within the article because it was first revealed on Thursday morning.

He additionally incorrectly referred to Wayper as the top of HR on the financial institution.

In actuality she was an HR enterprise accomplice working within the division the place Reeves labored.

On Friday, Reeves was requested in regards to the bills claims straight. She stated: “No-one ever raised any considerations about my bills once I labored for Halifax Financial institution of Scotland.”

She stated her bills had been “signed off within the correct manner” and “no points have been ever raised” throughout her time on the financial institution.

Her bills have been signed off by her supervisor, who was additionally one of many three staff who have been the topic of the bills probe.

Reeves left the financial institution in Could 2009, as did her boss. The opposite senior supervisor was on sick depart in Could and by no means returned to work on the financial institution.

There isn’t any suggestion any of the departures have been linked to the investigation or spending points and a spokesman for Reeves stated the chancellor left the financial institution on good phrases.

Reeves has accepted the findings of one other a part of our investigation, this time over her CV.

We established that the chancellor had exaggerated the size of time she labored on the Financial institution of England.

Reeves has typically stated she spent the “finest a part of a decade” working on the financial institution when setting out her credentials to run the financial system to voters.

Nevertheless, her LinkedIn profile stated she solely labored there for six years – from September 2000 to December 2006. A 12 months of that point was spent learning on the London College of Economics (LSE).

The BBC has now established that Reeves left the Financial institution of England in March 2006, that means the time she spent working there quantities to 5 and a half years.

A spokesman for Reeves confirmed that dates on her LinkedIn have been inaccurate and stated it was resulting from an administrative error by the workforce. Her profile on the social media website has since been up to date.