ITV Good Morning Britain viewers make Ed Balls Ofcom threat as they fume: 'Biased broadcasting!'

Mr Balls, a former Labour MP, is married to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, and viewers have slammed his affiliations to Labour during coverage and interviews with acting ministers.

Speaking on Thursday's show, Ms Reeves told Mr Balls and fellow host Susanna Reid: "My priority is cutting the cost of living and cutting NHS waiting lists, and we're making progress on those.

"Yesterday, Sainsbury's, Iceland and the Co-Op all said that because of the budget and the changes we've made on business rates to give a fairer deal to our high streets was good news for consumers.

"Co-op have already made a commitment around 2,700 prices with a billion pounds of support to get the cost of living down, and that was possible because of the changes that I've made as Chancellor to the business rates system to support our high streets and ask some of those online giants to pay a bit more.

"I am laser focused on the cost of living. I recognise that the price of everything is still too high, and yesterday, the Office of Budget responsibilities said that because of that targeted action on the cost of living, they expect inflation to be four percentage points lower next year than they thought it would be.

"So on the on the cost of living, I am trying to put money into ordinary people's pockets, whether that is through targeted action on energy, on rail fares, or indeed by giving the Bank of England the space to cut interest rates.

'Is that what you're doing... is that your Labour value that the welfare bill is the priority and growth and working people are not?'@edballs and @susannareid100 question Chancellor Rachel Reeves on the cost of living crisis. pic.twitter.com/YVkHOjJy4s

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 27, 2025

"That's happened five times already, but I do recognise that interest rates are still high for people with mortgages and high for businesses as well, and that's why I want to give them space to cut interest rates further."

Responding to the conversation on social media, users were quick to argue Mr Balls shouldn't be allowed to be involved in such broadcasts.

One said on X: "I like Ed Balls, but he literally just said to Rachel Reeves, 'great Budget, just shame it was leaked.' If that's not biased broadcasting, I'm not sure what is! #GMB."

"#GMB Ed Balls should not be interviewing his wife's colleague who she sat next to on the front bench yesterday; he is an ex-Labour Chancellor and is pro Reeves agenda. He's biased."

"Ed Balls should not be on #gmb too close to Labour and his previous role with them. #ofcom this is unacceptable," another echoed, threatening use of the broadcasting regulator.

Someone else commented: "Diddering Ed Balls defending Labour! I wonder why? #GMB."

Someone else asked: "Is that the same @edballs who is married to a Labour Cabinet minister, who served under the Blair/Brown Labour governments, and who also hired Labour's @RachelReevesMP as Shadow Chief Secretary while they were in opposition? So about as impartial as a BBC Panorama Editor."

Another penned: "Well done @susannareid100 for calling out that spoofing clown RR and it was great to see @edballs looking uncomfortable trying to appear impartial... Labour are at risk of causing serious division between workers and people on welfare... It's really not good."

"How can with any credibility @GMB question the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the wife of one of the presenters was sat next to her on the front bench in the commons yesterday? It's farcical," another wrote.

One more shared: "Ed Balls, ex-Labour, is married to her colleague Cooper and Reeves yapped together yesterday on the front bench when @KemiBadenoch was delivering her speech. Pure contempt!" (sic)

The responses came after the Chancellor joined the show via a video link from Coventry.

She answered questions about the announcements made in the House of Commons on Wednesday following widespread reaction to the budget speech.