Spring statement 2025 live: Rachel Reeves poised to reveal more welfare cuts to plug budget black hole – UK Times

Rachel Reeves primed the Cabinet for spring statement cuts this morning, telling colleagues her plans reflected “a slowing outlook for global growth”.

The chancellor is seeking to push the blame for billions of pounds worth of spending cuts from Labour’s October Budget to Donald Trump’s tariff threats and Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Critics will likely give this argument short shrift, pointing to the £40bn worth of tax hikes and months of economic doom and gloom after Ms Reeves took over the Treasury.

But she told the cabinet the global growth slowdown “underlined the importance of the government’s growth agenda”, and pointed to announcements so far such as the approval of a third runway at Heathrow and the Lower Thames Crossing.

According to an official readout, Ms Reeves said “you do not deliver growth by abstaining on these decisions as previous governments had done, but by getting on with delivering the key projects and reforms needed to the UK’s planning system and changing the way the state operates to be more agile and effective, and deliver better value for taxpayers”.

She concluded by saying: “Today’s Spring Statement would demonstrate the government’s plan to deliver higher growth, higher living standards, and better public services, built upon the key foundation of economic stability.”

The Tories think that Keir Starmer has fallen into a trap laid by Kemi Badenoch.

During the general election Labour pledged that they would fund an extra 6,500 teachers by putting VAT on private schools.

But in his exchanges with Ms Badenoch, Sir Keir avoided saying whether budget squeezes and the increase in national insurance could actually mean teachers end up losing their jobs instead.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The prime minister just failed to guarantee that teachers won’t lose their jobs as a result of schools struggling to cover the rise in National Insurance. Teaching unions have been clear that the compensation payment won’t cut it. The government should now be honest with parents that the Chancellor’s Jobs Tax will lead to worse outcomes for students.”

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out scrapping a major tax on US tech companies, amid speculation the PM could do away with the levy in order to appease Donald Trump.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked the PM to rule out scrapping the digital services tax and watering down down Britain’s online safety legislation to “appease president Trump and his co-president Elon Musk”.

Responding, the prime minister said there are “new measures coming in in the next few months which are very important under the [Online Safety Act] and we need to see whether we can go further on this issue because there are concerns as to whether they go far enough.” But he failed to address the digital services tax, as the government scrambles to agree an exemption for 25 per cent tariffs on British steel imposed by the US.

Why did the chancellor carry a red box with ER, which stands for “Elizabeth Regina”, nearly two years after King Charles’ coronation?

In truth the distinctive red Budget box which Chancellors use to carry their speech from 11 Downing Street to the House of Commons is rarely replaced.

Indeed, one was once in use for more than one hundred consecutive years.

That wooden box was hand-crafted for William Ewart Gladstone, in around 1860.

In 1965 Lord Callaghan then became the first chancellor to break with that tradition – and use a new box.

A generation later, in July 1997 Gordon Brown became the second chancellor to use a new box for the Budget.

George Osborne actually used the Gladstone Box for his first Budget in 2010, but went for new box in 2011.

In 2010 the Treasury revealed that one new red box (not necessarily the one used for the Budget) had cost £865.43.

The UK will see its first space launch this year, technology secretary Peter Kyle told the Commons.

This came in response to Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland), who said: “If that first space launch happens, and I believe it will, it will happen at SaxaVord in Unst. The Secretary of State will be very welcome to join us when it does.

“But in order for the UK space sector as a whole to recognise the full opportunities that we have here, we need to get serious about the delivery of the Government space strategy.”

Mr Kyle replied: “When we came into office, we did not inherit a clear strategy for delivering on our priorities for space, that strategy is now being developed.

“You can see from the investments that we are making as a department and a Government into space, and the way that we are making sure that our relationship with the European Space Agency, ESA, is delivering for the British sector, because we have more grants being delivered now in the UK, in the latest fund, than any other country.

“It shows that we are delivering. Certainly … I share his enthusiasm and certainty that a launch will happen this year, and I very much look forward to being there alongside him to witness it.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not go to “battle” with schools already banning phones.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told the Commons: “In 30 minutes, we will hear the Chancellor’s emergency budget – even the Home Secretary’s husband (Ed Balls) calls it an emergency budget – as she scrambles to fix the mess she made last October.

“But first, let’s turn to another Government minister who’s making a mess of her brief – the Education Secretary (Bridget Phillipson). Why did Labour MPs vote against banning phones in schools last week?”

Prime minister Sir Keir replied: “Because it’s completely unnecessary. I’ve got teenage children. Almost every school bans phones in school.

“They do it already. We need to concentrate on what’s really important here, which is getting to the content that children shouldn’t be accessing. That’s where I would genuinely like to work across the House because I think there’s a huge amount of work to do.

“But the battle is not with schools that are already banning phones in school. The battle – and this is an important emerging battle – is to work together to ensure that we can ensure that the content that children are accessing wherever they are is suitable for their age.”

With the “emergency budget” or spring statement on today some may have thought Kemi Badenoch would go in early with some hits on the subject in PMQs.

But instead she is grilling Keir Starmer on education and schools, another area which appears to be emerging as a weakness for this Labour government.

There are focused questions on the mobile phone ban being resisted by the government and attempts to improve behaviour.

Ms Badenoch is right to do this because she knows PMQs today will be secondary today once Rachel Reeves gets to her feet.

She instead is getting some hits in an area which will be a fruitful area for the Tories going forward.

Kemi Badenoch has described Rachel Reeves spring statement as an “emergency budget”.

During PMQs today, She joked: “Even the home secretary’s husband calls it an emergency budget.”

The leader of the opposition went on to say the chancellor is “scrambling to fix the mess she made last October”, referring to the autumn budget.

In his opening statement at PMQs, the prime minister said today’s spring statement “will showcase the government going further and faster on the economy” in order “undo a decade of stagnation and securing Britain’s future”.

Striking a positive note while he addressed the Commons, ahead of what is likely to be a difficult statement for the chancellor, the prime minister said: “Green lighting the Lower Thames Crossing, investing £2m for 80,00 affordable homes for working families, 60,00 young people being trained – the next generation of construction workers – and fixing millions of potholes.

“We’re undoing a decade of stagnation, doing jobs and opportunities for working people and securing Britain’s future.”

Alongside the statement, the government will release an impact assessment detailing how many people will be hit by the previously announced plans to cut the welfare bill.

Elswehere, Ms Reeves has promised a £2.2 billion boost to defence spending over the next year.

The extra funding is being put on the table as the Government aims to hike defence spending to 2.5% of the UK’s economic output by 2027.

The April funding increase will help pay for new technologies, like long range laser and microwave weapons – collectively known as directed energy weapons – which will be fitted to warships.

Homes for military families will, meanwhile, be refurbished, including the 36,000 recently brought back into public ownership from the private rented sector.