Rachel Reeves made to correct parliamentary record after bungling her figures

Andrew Griffith blasts Rachel Reeves for another tax grab |

GB NEWS

Aymon Bertah

By Aymon Bertah


Published: 17/08/2025

- 19:02

The mistakes were made over a number of sessions

Rachel Reeves has had to correct the parliamentary record after getting her figures wrong when talking about unemployment and pensions reforms.

The Treasury has corrected Hansard after mistakes made by the Chancellor over a number of sessions.


Hansard is the official record of what MPs and peers say in Parliament.

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Ms Reeves claimed on one occasion that the £425billion Local Government Pensions Scheme was managed by "96 different administering authorities".

It was a figure the Chancellor wished to cut to "eight pools" as part of her flagship reforms to the retirement savings industry.

But, the Treasury admitted that the "correct figures" were that there was 86 different administering authorities "with plans to take that down to six pools".

Ms Reeves in a separate session in front of the House of Lords economic affairs committee saw the Chancellor say "20 per cent of people of working age who are economically inactive" and that the unemployment rate was just more than four per cent.

Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves was forced to make a number of amendments on the parliamentary record

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GETTY

The Treasury again corrected both sets of figures, saying the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) release estimated the number of economically inactive people was 21 per cent.

While the "latest ONS release estimates" the unemployment figure to be 4.7 per cent.

The Chancellor was accused earlier this month by Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith of having a "shocking grasp of detail".

He told the Mail on Sunday that "when she's writing such big cheques with taxpayers' money" there was no time to be "loose with your numbers".

\u200bShadow Business and Trade SecretaryShadow Business and Trade Secretary Andrew Griffith | GB NEWS

Ms Reeves is facing mounting speculation about the upcoming budget.

Economists have warned that the Chancellor could be forced to raise up to £50billion to fill a hole in public finances.

Critics have said the gap comes from previous measures taken by Ms Reeves had damaged business confidence and investment.

That comes amid other slip-ups by the Chancellor.

Ms Reeves was forced to correct a statement she made in February on inflation after implying that workers' wages had risen at a record pace since Labour assumed office.

She had previously said that "we've seen year on year wages of inflation growing at their fastest rate" since the election.

The Treasury later declared a correction, citing an "error".

The department said inflation was not growing at the fastest rate, however, "at their fastest rate in three years".

Ms Reeves late last year came under scrutiny after claims she exaggerated parts of her CV.

It included incorrectly saying she had worked as an economist at Bank of Scotland while also being accused of overstating how long she spent at teh Bank of England.

GB News has contacted the Treasury for comment.

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