Spring statement 2025: key points at a glance
Rachel Reeves is delivering her economic update – here are the main points, with political analysisPolitics live – latest updatesRachel Reeves says Labour was elected to “bring change to our country, provide security for working people and deliver a decade of national renewal”.On the eve of the statement, it emerged that the Office for Budget Responsibility had told Reeves that her planned benefit cuts would only raise £3.4bn by 2029-30, not the £5bn she had predicted.Reeves says she will stick to her cast-iron “fiscal rules” and blames the Liz Truss mini-budget for pushing up borrowing rates and harming “ordinary working people” two years on.The budget would have been in deficit by £4.1bn without the measures she is taking today, Reeves says. She says she has restored the government’s headroom, to a surplus of £6bn in 2027-28, rising to £9.9bn in 2029-30, compared with the previous government’s £6.5bn.Net financial debt will be 83.5% in 2026-27, Reeves says, falling thereafter.The statement does not contain any further tax increases. But “it cannot be right that others are still evading what they rightly owe in tax”. Cutting-edge tech will help HMRC crack down on tax avoidance, which will raise a further £1bn, taking the total to £7.5bn. Continue reading...
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Rachel Reeves is delivering her economic update – here are the main points, with political analysis
Rachel Reeves says Labour was elected to “bring change to our country, provide security for working people and deliver a decade of national renewal”.
On the eve of the statement, it emerged that the Office for Budget Responsibility had told Reeves that her planned benefit cuts would only raise £3.4bn by 2029-30, not the £5bn she had predicted.
Reeves says she will stick to her cast-iron “fiscal rules” and blames the Liz Truss mini-budget for pushing up borrowing rates and harming “ordinary working people” two years on.
The budget would have been in deficit by £4.1bn without the measures she is taking today, Reeves says. She says she has restored the government’s headroom, to a surplus of £6bn in 2027-28, rising to £9.9bn in 2029-30, compared with the previous government’s £6.5bn.
Net financial debt will be 83.5% in 2026-27, Reeves says, falling thereafter.
The statement does not contain any further tax increases. But “it cannot be right that others are still evading what they rightly owe in tax”. Cutting-edge tech will help HMRC crack down on tax avoidance, which will raise a further £1bn, taking the total to £7.5bn. Continue reading...
