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Rachel Reeves has said that she was never questioned about her expenses during her time working at Halifax Bank of Scotland.
The chancellor was responding to a BBC report which found evidence of an internal inquiry into the spending habits of Ms Reeves and two other colleagues on their company cards but it appears that the investigation was never escalated to the point where action was taken.
Insisting her expenses had been submitted and approved “in the proper way”, she added: “I was never questioned, never asked to pay back any expenses.”
Ms Reeves worked at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) between 2006 and 2009.
On Thursday, the BBC reported she was one of three employees investigated by HBOS for using her expenses to “fund a lifestyle” with inappropriate spending on dinners, events, taxis and gifts.
It uncovered documents it alleged showed Ms Reeves was accused of spending hundreds of pounds on the items, including one gift for her boss. Concerns were reportedly raised about her spending on taxis and on a Christmas party, with one whistleblower believing it to be excessive, the BBC said.
But Ms Reeves’s spokesperson said she did not recall being investigated by HBOS or facing questions over her expenses.
And on Friday, Ms Reeves said: “I submitted, had processed and had my expenses signed off in the proper way as you would expect, and no issues were ever raised during my time at Halifax Bank of Scotland.”
Adding that nobody had gone on the record to suggest there had been concerns, she said: “I was never questioned, never asked to pay back any expenses.”
Her defence followed a statement from former HBOS HR manager Jane Wayper, who said she did not “recognise” any of the claims.
Ms Wayper said: “I would have been made aware of any investigation which concluded there was a case to answer. I would have been required to organise and oversee a disciplinary process.
“This did not happen.”
David Sorensen, a lawyer who acted for the chancellor as she left HBOS, also said she was not subject to “allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct” during her career at the bank.
He was responsible for overseeing “a standard-style agreement adopted by the company when a mutually agreed exit was made during the bank’s restructure”.
But Labour grandee Dame Siobhain McDonagh said there are “questions to be asked” even as she described the chancellor as “one of the most hardworking, honest politicians that I have ever met”.
She said: “We’ve got to be sure about what happened with the expenses scandal. As far as I’m aware she absolutely denies that she was approached by anybody about the expenses scandal. So I think there’s still questions to be asked about what is going on and we’ll see what happens.”
And Kemi Badenoch said the BBC’s investigation raises “serious questions” for Ms Reeves, adding: “Keir Starmer said ‘restoring trust in politics is the greatest test of our era’. Until she comes clean, not just about her CV but about the circumstances in which she left HBOS, no one will take him seriously.”
Answering questions during a visit to a building site in Nottinghamshire, the chancellor also declined to be drawn on claims she had exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England prior to joining HBOS.
The BBC reported that Ms Reeves’s LinkedIn profile listed her time at the Bank of England as lasting for nine months longer than it did.
Ms Reeves’s team said the inaccuracy was due to an administrative error by the member of staff who set up the profile.
Asked about the claims on Thursday, the chancellor said she was “proud of the work that I did before I became an MP” but people would “judge me on the job I’m doing now as chancellor”.
