ANGELA Rayner and Rachel Reeves are locked in a row over this week’s spending review — which fellow ministers have dubbed, “The War of the Roses”.
The Deputy PM was last night still refusing to sign up to her housing department’s budget.
Ms Rayner has been demanding billions more for home building.
Meetings are happening right up until the last minute, giving Chancellor Ms. Reeves very little time to make sure her financial figures are correct before she reveals her spending proposals to Parliament on Wednesday.
If Ms. Rayner, who is known as “Red Rayner” for her liberal beliefs, does not approve her budget, then No11 will need to resort to the unusual move of enforcing it on her.
One senior minister told The Sun on Sunday: “Things are tense. The two most powerful women in Cabinet can’t agree.
“It’s like War of the Roses. Angela represents a Lancashire seat and Rachel’s is in Yorkshire.”
The War of the Roses was a series of battles for the throne waged between the House of York and House of Lancaster.
The Yorkist symbol was a white rose and Lancaster’s was a red rose.
The Labour Party’s emblem is also famously a red rose.
A senior government insider said: “Angela is definitely not happy. She could blow up at any moment.”
Another said: “Angie used to work for a trade union and has taken those hardline negotiation tactics with her into the Treasury talks.”
The Government has vowed to build 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029, but Ms Rayner fears she will miss the target without more cash.
Nailbiting negotiations between the pair were still ongoing last night.
Many departments face having to make deep cuts because of a tight spending squeeze.
But Ms Reeves will tell MPs on Wednesday she is spending shedloads of cash on infrastructure investment to turbocharge the economy.
This will include £86 billion on Britain’s fastest growing sectors, including tech, sciences and defence.
Writing in today’s Sun on Sunday, Cabinet minister Peter Kyle said “tough decisions” have been made to knock the economy into shape.
