Taxpayers fund £3,000 portrait of Rachel Reeves as Labour accused of 'total lack of self-awareness'

Oliver Partridge
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:43:25 +0000

A £3,000 oil painting depicting Chancellor Rachel Reeves working on her inaugural Budget has been purchased for the Parliamentary Art Collection using public funds.

The artwork, created by Sally Ward, was quietly revealed at the end of last month following a competition organised by the Society of Women Artists.

The portrait captures Ms Reeves inside her 11 Downing Street study, consulting with advisers on her financial plans.

Commons sources confirmed the artist received the sum as an "acquisition prize" from the cross-party Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art budget.

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The painting celebrates Ms Reeves' achievement as the first woman to hold the Chancellor position.

The TaxPayers' Alliance has condemned the expenditure as tone-deaf, given the financial pressures facing British households.

William Yarwood, the organisation's campaigns director, said: "Taxpayers will be framing this as a total lack of self-awareness from the chancellor.

"While Reeves tells households to tighten their belts and hike taxes even further, she seems perfectly happy for the public to pick up the tab for her own vanity projects.

"Instead of commissioning oil paintings, the chancellor should be focusing on lowering Britain's crushing tax burden."

Critics argued that allocating public money to the portrait demonstrated poor judgement, as Britons confront a record tax burden and the ongoing Middle East crisis fallout.

However, Ms Reeves defended the portrait as a celebration of female achievement in British politics.

The Treasury confirmed to GB News the Chancellor did not commission the work, but was rather a result of an open call by the Society of Women Artists for their 170th anniversary, with the portrait acquired by the Works of Art Committee.

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Speaking at the unveiling, Ms Reeves said: "When I stood at the despatch box to deliver the first Budget by a female Chancellor, I was acutely aware of the generations of women who had fought to make that moment possible.

"I am deeply honoured that Sally Ward's portrait will join the Parliamentary Art Collection as a permanent record of that history.

"I hope this portrait serves as a reminder to every young woman and girl across the country that there should be no ceiling on their ambition."

The Chancellor has previously overhauled Treasury artwork, replacing a portrait of Nigel Lawson with an image of "Red Ellen" Wilkinson, a former Labour minister under Clement Attlee.

Since taking office in July 2024, Ms Reeves has introduced approximately £75billion annually in additional taxation, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility's historical records.

This figure positions her as the most significant tax-raising Chancellor over the past sixty years, substantially exceeding Gordon Brown, whose measures totalled £62.1billion.

Much of the additional revenue has been directed towards rising welfare expenditure, with Labour backbenchers pressuring ministers to abandon spending restraints and remove the two-child benefit cap.

Spring Statement projections from March indicated the overall tax burden will climb to an unprecedented 38.5 per cent of GDP by 2030-31.