Spring Statement 2025 reaction – Thursday’s headlines are reacting to yesterday’s Spring Statement delivered by the chancellor.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced significant measures to address the UK’s economic challenges. Key points include a £14 billion plan involving cuts to welfare payments (£4.8 billion) and departmental spending (£3.6 billion) to fix public finances. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has halved the 2025 economic growth forecast to 1%, down from 2%. Despite these austerity measures, the tax burden is projected to reach a record 37.7% of the GDP by 2027-28. Additionally, a £3.25 billion Transformation Fund was introduced to drive efficiencies across government departments.
Following the chancellor’s update on the economy, Donald Trump announced new import taxes of 25% on cars and car parts coming into America in a move that threatened to widen the global trade war.
Spring Statement reaction – Reeves in hot water
The reaction to Wednesday’s Spring Statement won’t be an easy read for Rachel Reeves this morning, with the right-leaning press labelling it “humiliating” and suggesting her time as chancellor will soon be up, and the left-leaning media saying the chancellor’s plans will fall heaviest on the poor.
- Daily Mail says the chancellor has been branded delusional for claiming to be restoring economic stability as growth forecast has been slashed in half and more tax rises are on the way.
- The Daily Express calls the chancellor “reckless” and accuses her of damaging economic growth. The paper reports that the UK’s tax burden is predicted to hit rector levels, blaming her policies for the negative growth forecasts.
- The Sun calls it a “bombshell” and looks at the political impact. The paper says the chancellor is facing a Labour revolt as her “benefit blitz” will plunge 250,000, including 50,000 children, into poverty.
- The i reports the chancellor refused to rule out future tax rises in the Autumn budget, noting her announcement of sharp cuts to benefits could push a quarter of a million of people into poverty. The cuts come amid a struggle to find any economic growth, the paper adds.
- Metro says “millions of poorer families and disabled people” will lose thousands of pounds a year in Reeves’s plans to “fill a new £14 billion black hole in Britain’s finances” by slashing benefits and other government spending. The paper also notes that Labour MPs and charities are slamming the plans as a “return to austerity.”
- Daily Mirror accuses the chancellor of “balancing the books on the backs of the poor.” The paper says her benefit cuts add up to £4.8 billion of the £14 billion in cuts – a union boss says she’s making the “wrong call” to cut sickness and disability assistance instead of taxing the rich.
- The Guardian says her plans could cost three million households around £1,720 a year. The paper says ministers are preparing for a backbench rebellion.
Global trade war & Economic growth slashed in half
- Beyond welfare cuts, the FT reports on the warnings to the chancellor that she might be forced to raise taxes in the Autumn Budget. OBR forecasters told Reeves that the £9.9bn “headroom” the government has against the Treasury’s fiscal rules might be wiped out in a global trade war.
- The Times covers the full-blown trade war being triggered by Donald Trump. The paper reports on the OBR’s warning of the impact tariffs could have should Trump go through with the threat. Trump reportedly plans to introduce tariffs of up to 20% on UK exports to the US on Tuesday, a day which he has called “liberation day”. The Times notes the OBR said this level of tariff would wipe 0.6% off economic growth by 2026, rising to 1% if the UK retaliated with its own tariffs on US goods.
- The Daily Telegraph reports the OBR has warned the chancellor she faces a 50/50 chance of having to raise more revenue to meet her fiscal rules. The paper says the OBR also described the employment rights bill as a threat to growth, productivity and jobs.
Response from Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish newspapers
- The Scotsman says Reeves is accused of ‘austerity on stilts’ as Holyrood braces for cuts. The paper says the Scottish government has said they will do ‘everything’ to avoid replicating UK welfare cuts.
- The National says it’s a new era of austerity. SO, Rachel Reeves is changing Britain for the better. A little pain now (though not for her) will see serious gains … soon. Does she think we were born yesterday?
- Western Mail says further tax rises are “likely later this year after the budget watchdog dealt Rachel Reeves a blow by halving its forecast for economic growth, despite huge cuts to welfare and a squeeze on Whitehall budgets.
