Media outlets have roundly condemned Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spring statement, which cut welfare spending and squeezed Whitehall budgets.
While some warned of further uncertainty, critics accused Ms Reeves of mismanaging public finances, and some warned of a return to austerity.
The i Paper’s editorial accuses the Chancellor of “shackling” herself to “restrictive rules that dictate what she can and cannot deliver”.
Thursday's front page: Balancing the books on the backs of the poor https://t.co/VyaBMyoVO4#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NfVyXTEtme
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) March 26, 2025
“We saw that at the Spring Statement yesterday: the Chancellor’s intervention was driven by the need to please the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasters, not by a vision of a more prosperous future,” the newspaper says
The Daily Telegraph is even more damning in its condemnation of the spring statement, accusing Ms Reeves of being “at odds with reality”.
“Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement exhibited the same wishful thinking that underpinned her calamitous Budget, a Micawberesque hope that ‘something will turn up’ to stimulate growth even though her own policies are largely responsible for thwarting it,” it says.
“Arguably, it was the most disingenuous financial presentation of recent times, making those of Gordon Brown look positively transparent.”
THE TIMES: Reeves squeezed by Trump #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/45iZNLUmEi
— Alfie Tobutt (@AlfieTobutt) March 26, 2025
Echoing the gloom, The Times writes Downing Street had “little to be cheerful about”.
“Yet real optimism about the UK’s prospects was sadly lacking,” it warns.
“Ms Reeves insisted the world was changing and with it the need to adapt her plans. What she failed to acknowledge was the role she herself has played in Britain’s underperforming economy.”
Others point to figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warning the Chancellor may have to come back for more money in the autumn, or that fiscal headroom could be wiped out by impending US tariffs.
The Independent’s leading article warns Ms Reeves may have to return to parliament in the autumn with further cuts – or that parliament could become a “constant stream of mini-Budgets” undermining public confidence.
“The danger is that the chancellor will have to return to the Commons again in the summer, for the spending review, and then in the autumn Budget,” it reads.
“Perhaps yet again, in next year’s spring statement, with new proposals for tax rises and cuts to public spending plans.”
Sentiments were mirrored by The Sun, which writes: “The risk is that the UK’s doom loop of low growth, stagnant productivity and high debt continues”.
The Government’s decision to slash welfare spending was also condemned, with the Daily Mirror labelling the move “brutal” and issuing a plea to Ms Reeves.
“There is still time for her to swallow her pride and admit her plans would be callous,” the newspaper warns.
“That would be better than being branded the Labour Chancellor who plunged 250,000, including 50,000 children, into poverty.”
An estimated 250,000 people will be left in relative poverty after housing costs by the end of the decade, according to official figures.
Tightening of benefits rules will impact around three million families on incapacity benefits, while 800,000 people will have reduced personal independence payments (Pip).
Finally, The Guardian accuses Ms Reeves of “sacrificing the most vulnerable on the altar of prudence”.
“More than 20 people will be poorer for every one person her reforms push into work,” the newspaper says.
“It’s hard not to conclude that Ms Reeves has repackaged austerity as ‘stability.’”
