LAST UPDATE | 3 Jul 2025

JUST A YEAR shy of their landslide win, the Labour Party in the UK has seen the biggest first-year poll drop for the governing party since the 1990s – the first fall of its kind since John Major’s Conservative government of the 1990s. 

The party, divided by welfare cuts and disagreements over fiscal policies, are now rating lower in the UK than Nigel Farage’s Reform. 

Yesterday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to cry in the House of Commons as British prime minister Keir Starmer declined to guarantee she would remain in place until the election.

A UK government spokesperson said that Reeves was visibly tearful over a “personal issue” but that didn’t stop the financial markets reacting, with value of the pound dropping noticeably as the Prime Minister spoke in Parliament with Reeves in the background.

Her emotional moment has dominated the UK front pages this morning.

So, what did the UK’s papers make of it all?

The Sun

‘Markets panic as she sobs behind PM’, The Sun reports, alongside a much-used image of an emotional Rachel Reeves. 

The Telegraph

‘Pound falls after Reeves’s tears’, The Telegraph headlines its lead story this morning.

The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail has also used Reeves’s quote admitting she’s ‘under pressure’. It also reports that there are claims of an ‘angry bust-up’ with deputy prime minister Angela Raynor prior to Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. 

An opinion piece featured on the front page says, ‘Rachel needed a hug’ and calls Starmer a ‘political vampire’ for using the party’s Chancellor as a scapegoat.

The Daily Express

‘Day of drama leaves Reeves on brink’, the Daily Express reports – but they’ve replaced the tearful Reeves with a smiling Princess of Wales. 

The Times

The Times has gone back to the image. ‘Reeves battles doubters after PM spooks markets’, its headline this morning reads.

The Guardian

The Guardian has gone with ‘Tears and turmoil as PM forced to defend Reeves after welfare fiasco’ alongside an image of Reeves and Starmer from Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.

What has Reeves said?

Rachel Reeves said today that she was “clearly” upset during her appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions PMQs), but insisted she was “cracking on with the job”.

She appeared alongside Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting as the government launched it’s 10-year plan for the NHS in London.

Reeves made no mention of yesterday’s incident in the Commons as she made her first public appearance since crying in the chamber.

Reeves and Starmer shared a hug, and she smiled throughout the public appearance.

Rachel Reeves hugs Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the launch of the UK government’s health plan in London. PA PA

Reeves would not, however, be drawn into answering questions about the “personal matter” which had upset her.

She told reporters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.

“My job as Chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the Prime Minister, supporting the Government and that’s what I tried to do.

“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that,” Reeves added.

She rejected suggestions that her tears were related to a conversation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle or another member of government.

“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday,” she said.

Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.

Starmer gave a full-throated defence of Reeves, and said he had not appreciated how upset she was while he was focused on the cut and thrust of Parliament’s most-viewed weekly event.

Additional reporting from Andrew Walsh and PA