Chancellor Rachel Reeves can be trusted, says minister

In the late 2000s before entering politics, Reeves worked at HBOS as a senior manager.

The BBC has learnt that during her time at the bank concerns were raised about Reeves, and two other managers, using the bank's money to "fund a lifestyle".

The concerns raised about Reeves's spending included a £400 leaving meal for a colleague, a £49 handbag for her PA and £152 spent on another bag, along with some perfume as a present for her boss in a joint gift with another manager.

The BBC investigation has also raised questions about the accuracy of Reeves's online CV on LinkedIn.

Last year she was accused of embellishing it. Her profile was then changed to describe her role at HBOS to "retail banking". It had previously said "economist".

The BBC has now established that she exaggerated her time at the Bank of England. In fact she left nine months earlier than she had claimed on LinkedIn.

Reeves was at the Bank of England for five and a half years, but nearly a year of that was spent studying for a Masters at the London School of Economics.

As recently as last year, she said she had spent "the best part of a decade as an economist at the Bank of England".

A spokeswoman for Reeves said the dates on her CV were inaccurate due to an administrative error by a member of the team and that Ms Reeves had not seen it before it had been published.

On Thursday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch posted on social media: "Keir Starmer said 'restoring trust in politics is the great test of our era'.

"Until she [Reeves] comes clean - not just about her CV but about the circumstances in which she left Halifax Bank of Scotland, no one will take him seriously."

Defending his colleague on the BBC's Newsnight programme, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Reeves was a "serious economist" who was doing a "brilliant and difficult job".

"I think I've got a hard enough job trying to turn around the National Health Service and social care. She's got to worry about that, she's got to worry about every other public service that's creaking at the seams."