Rachel Reeves is set to announce even more welfare cuts in her spring statement today after the budget watchdog told ministers their benefits shake-up will save £1.6billion less than originally thought.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has rejected the Treasury’s estimate of £5billion in welfare savings – instead, they are set to save the public purse £3.4billion.
Public health experts have warned that people will die as a direct result of Labour’s disability benefit cuts – and at the dispatch today, Britain is bracing for more.
Today, Reeves will use her spring statement to announce some £15billion of spending cuts to meet her own fiscal rules – again, after the OBR intervened.
The Chancellor will say: “This moment demands an active government stepping up to secure Britain’s future. A government on the side of working people.
“To grasp the opportunities that we now have and help Britain reach its full potential, we need to go further and faster to kickstart growth, protect national security and make people better off through our plan for change.”
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BREAKING: Chancellor handed inflation lifeline as CPI rate DROPS to 2.8%
The rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation fell to 2.8 per cent in February from 3 per cent in January, the Office for National Statistics said.
We’ll bring you live reaction to the news ahead of the spring statement. More to follow…
INSIGHT: Keir Starmer attacks on Nigel Farage fail to stifle Reform UK as Red Wall becomes battleground
Labour’s attacks on Reform UK have failed to stifle the threat from Nigel Farage
PA
Labour’s attacks on Reform UK have failed to stifle the threat from Nigel Farage as Sir Keir Starmer prepares for a major Red Wall test on May 1, a new report has revealed.
Research produced by Sophie Stowers from UK in a Changing Europe was re-published today after Reform UK fired the starting gun on a number of local election contests by holding rallies across Brexit-backing patches of northern England.
Labour has so far limited its attacks against Farage to concentrate on Ukraine and the Employment Rights Bill.
Sir Keir Starmer swiped at the Reform UK leader in his recent appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions, accusing the Clacton MP of “fawning” for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
In a letter sent to Farage earlier this month, Red Wall Labour MPs also asked: “Will you be standing up for British workers or voting against strengthening their rights?”
Despite the attacks, and Reform now looking to recover from the fall out of Rupert Lowe’s suspension, Stowers handed Farage a major boost…
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