Rachel Reeves to insist she will stick with the plan at spring statement

The Government has the “right economic plan for the country”, Rachel Reeves will insist at the spring statement.

The Chancellor is expected to say the economy is “stronger and more secure” as a result of decisions taken by the Government as she addresses the Commons on Tuesday.

Ms Reeves will point to falling inflation and interest rates cuts as successes which have resulted in an easing of living pressures.

But the statement comes just weeks after the Bank of England downgraded its growth rating for the UK economy.

At the start of February, the Bank’s gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for 2026 were downgraded to 0.9% from 1.2%, and to 1.5% from 1.6% for 2027.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, the Chancellor will say: “This Government has the right economic plan for our country… in a world that has become yet more uncertain.

“Stability in the public finances, investment in infrastructure and reform to our economy.

“Building growth not on the contribution of a few people or a few parts of the country, but in every part of Britain with a state that doesn’t stand back, but steps up.”

Ms Reeves will later add: “Because of the decisions we have already taken, we have a stronger and more secure economy. Inflation and interest rates falling. And in every part of Britain, working people are better off.”

Ministers, including the Chancellor, have repeatedly sought to play down the significance of the spring statement, and have said it will not contain any new tax and spend policies.

The Government has promised to restrict itself to one “fiscal event” a year where it sets out such policies, that being the budget in the autumn.

The spring statement will instead be a response to the latest economic forecasting by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

But this has not stopped opposition parties from calling for the Government to make significant interventions on Tuesday.

The Liberal Democrats want the Government to use Tuesday’s statement to publish an impact assessment of the pharmaceuticals deal with the US.

The agreement means the US does not impose tariffs on British made drugs, but in return the UK pays more for access to American medicines.

The Lib Dems commissioned polling which found the British public want the deal to be abandoned, and for cash spent on US medicines to be spent directly on care in the UK.

The majority of Labour respondents also felt the same, the representative poll of some 2,255 people between January 30 and February 2, also found.

Liberal Democrats health and social care spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “The British public deserves to know why the Chancellor is signing a blank cheque for Donald Trump while our own NHS is at breaking point. Labour may want to pull the covers over their head after such an embarrassing by-election last week, but they have to stop hiding from the country and face the music.

“This pharma deal looks like a secretive surrender that puts Trump’s whims ahead of British patients. We cannot have a situation where money is drained from GP surgeries and hospital wards to pay for a Maga tax that the British people have had no say over whatsoever.”