Rachel Reeves blamed “increased global uncertainty” as the budget watchdog slashed its forecast for economic growth.
The Office for Budget Responsibility halved its forecast for growth in gross domestic product in 2025 from 2% to just 1%.
The watchdog’s assessment also indicated the Chancellor would have missed her goal of balancing the nation’s books without action.
Responding to the growth forecast, Ms Reeves said: “I am not satisfied with these numbers.
“That is why we on this side of the house are serious about taking the action needed to grow our economy. Backing the builders, not the blockers.”
Despite the dramatic downgrade in 2025, she said the OBR had upgraded its forecasts for subsequent years with GDP expected to increase by 1.9% in 2026, 1.8% in 2027, 1.7% in 2027 and 1.8% in 2029.
The watchdog also forecast that the Government’s planning reforms will increase GDP permanently by 0.2% in 2029/30, representing an additional £6.8 billion and pushing housebuilding to a “40-year high”.
She was forced to set out measures totalling around £14 billion, including a series of cuts, to ensure she met her “non-negotiable” goal of balancing day-to-day spending against tax receipts, rather than borrowing.
Ms Reeves told MPs: “The increased global uncertainty has had two consequences.
“First, on our public finances. And second, on the economy.”
At her budget in October she set out plans which met that goal with £9.9 billion to spare in 2029/30.
But she said the updated forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility indicated she would have missed the target by £4.1 billion without taking action to restore the £9.9 billion of headroom.
She confirmed a further squeeze on the welfare budget, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month, with the package now expected to save £4.8 billion rather than the more than £5 billion in 2029/30 hoped for by ministers.
And she signalled cuts in Whitehall, with “voluntary exit schemes to reduce the size of the civil service”, taking advantage of technology to “make Government leaner, more productive and more efficient”, saving £3.5 billion by 2029/30.
Ms Reeves said that overall, day-to-day spending will be reduced by £6.1 billion by 2029/30 and it will now grow by an average of 1.2% a year above inflation, down from the 1.3% forecast at the time of the budget.
The OBR said the £14 billion of measures to restore Ms Reeves’s headroom came from “direct savings from welfare reforms and the reduction in day-to-day departmental spending” along with the “indirect boost” from the planning reforms.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Ms Reeves of having “tanked the economy”.
“She taxed jobs and wealth creation, she’s destroyed livelihoods, businesses clobbered big and small, small companies – the backbone of our economy, enterprise – crushed on the altar of her ineptitude,” he said.
The Office for Budget Responsibility halved its forecast for growth in gross domestic product in 2025 from 2% to just 1%.
The watchdog’s assessment also indicated the Chancellor would have missed her goal of balancing the nation’s books without action.
Responding to the growth forecast, Ms Reeves said: “I am not satisfied with these numbers.
“That is why we on this side of the house are serious about taking the action needed to grow our economy. Backing the builders, not the blockers.”
Despite the dramatic downgrade in 2025, she said the OBR had upgraded its forecasts for subsequent years with GDP expected to increase by 1.9% in 2026, 1.8% in 2027, 1.7% in 2027 and 1.8% in 2029.
The watchdog also forecast that the Government’s planning reforms will increase GDP permanently by 0.2% in 2029/30, representing an additional £6.8 billion and pushing housebuilding to a “40-year high”.
She was forced to set out measures totalling around £14 billion, including a series of cuts, to ensure she met her “non-negotiable” goal of balancing day-to-day spending against tax receipts, rather than borrowing.
Ms Reeves told MPs: “The increased global uncertainty has had two consequences.
“First, on our public finances. And second, on the economy.”
At her budget in October she set out plans which met that goal with £9.9 billion to spare in 2029/30.
But she said the updated forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility indicated she would have missed the target by £4.1 billion without taking action to restore the £9.9 billion of headroom.
She confirmed a further squeeze on the welfare budget, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month, with the package now expected to save £4.8 billion rather than the more than £5 billion in 2029/30 hoped for by ministers.
And she signalled cuts in Whitehall, with “voluntary exit schemes to reduce the size of the civil service”, taking advantage of technology to “make Government leaner, more productive and more efficient”, saving £3.5 billion by 2029/30.
Ms Reeves said that overall, day-to-day spending will be reduced by £6.1 billion by 2029/30 and it will now grow by an average of 1.2% a year above inflation, down from the 1.3% forecast at the time of the budget.
The OBR said the £14 billion of measures to restore Ms Reeves’s headroom came from “direct savings from welfare reforms and the reduction in day-to-day departmental spending” along with the “indirect boost” from the planning reforms.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Ms Reeves of having “tanked the economy”.
“She taxed jobs and wealth creation, she’s destroyed livelihoods, businesses clobbered big and small, small companies – the backbone of our economy, enterprise – crushed on the altar of her ineptitude,” he said.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Right, we now come to the Spring Statement. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.
00:12Mr Speaker, this Labour government was elected to bring change to our country, to provide
00:19security for working people and to deliver a decade of national renewal. That work began
00:28in July and I am proud of what we have delivered in just nine months. Restoring stability to
00:35our public finances. Giving the Bank of England the foundation to cut interest rates three
00:42times since the general election. Rebuilding our public services with record investment
00:49in our NHS, bringing waiting lists down for five months in a row. And increasing the national
00:57living wage to give 3 million people a pay rise from next week. Now our task is to secure
01:06Britain's future in a world that is changing before our eyes. The threat facing our continent
01:13was transformed when Putin invaded Ukraine. It has since escalated further and will continue
01:21to evolve rapidly. At the same time, the global economy has become more uncertain, bringing
01:28insecurity at home as trading patterns become more unstable and borrowing costs rise for
01:35many major economies. Mr Speaker, the job of a responsible government is not simply
01:41to watch this change. This moment demands an active government. A government not stepping
01:47back but stepping up. A government on the side of working people, helping Britain to
01:54reach its potential. And Mr Speaker, we have the strengths to do just that. As one of the
02:01world's largest economies, an ally to trading partners across the globe and a hub for global
02:08innovation. These strengths and the progress that we have made so far mean that we can
02:15act quickly and decisively in a more uncertain world to secure Britain's future and to
02:21deliver prosperity for working people. Mr Speaker, as I set out at the Budget last year,
02:31I am today returning to the House to provide an update on our public finances. Supported
02:36by a new forecast from the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility, ahead of a full
02:42spending review in June, I will then return to the House in the autumn to deliver a Budget
02:48in line with our commitment to deliver just one major fiscal event a year. So let me now
02:55turn to the OBR's forecasts and I want to thank Richard Hughes and his team for their
03:00dedicated work. The increased global uncertainty has had two consequences. First, on our public
03:08finances and second, on our economy. I will take each in turn. In the autumn, I set out
03:15our new fiscal rules that would guide this government. These fiscal rules are non-negotiable.
03:22They are the embodiment of this government's unwavering commitment to bring stability to
03:27our economy and to ensure security for working people. Because the British people have seen
03:34what happens when a government borrows beyond their means. The mini-Budget delivered by
03:45the party opposites resulted in higher bills, in higher rents and higher mortgages. Mr Speaker,
03:54it was not the wealthy who suffered most when they crushed the economy, it was ordinary
03:59working people. And they continue to feel the effects, two and a half years later, of
04:07the damage that the party opposite did. Now let me be clear, there is nothing progressive,
04:15there is nothing Labour about working people paying the price for economic irresponsibility.
04:20The British people put their trust in this Labour government because they knew that we,
04:28they knew that I would never take risks with the public finances, that we would never do
04:34anything to put household finances in danger. And we must earn that trust every single day.
04:43The two rules that I set out at the Budget were first, our stability rule, which ensures
04:49that public spending is under control, balancing the current Budget by 2029-30, so that day-to-day
04:57spending is met by tax receipts. Second, our investment rule, to drive growth in the economy,
05:04ensuring that net financial debt falls by the end of the forecast period, while enabling us
05:10to invest alongside business. Turning first to the stability rule, the OBR's forecast shows that
05:18before the steps that I will take in this statement, the current Budget would have been
05:23in deficit by £4.1 billion in 2029-30, having been in surplus by £9.9 billion in the autumn,
05:32as the UK, alongside our international peers like France and Germany, has seen the cost of
05:38borrowing rise during this period of heightened uncertainty in global markets. As a result of
05:46the steps that I am taking today, I can confirm that I have restored in full our headroom against
05:52the stability rule, moving from a deficit of £36.1 billion in 2025-26 and £13.4 billion in
06:032026-27 to a surplus of £6.0 billion in 2027-28, £7.1 billion in 2028-29 and a surplus of £9.9
06:16billion in 2029-30. That compares to the headroom left by the previous Government of just £6.5
06:25billion. That means we are continuing to meet the stability rule two years early, building
06:33resilience to shocks in this and more uncertain world. The OBR forecasts that the investment rule
06:42is also met two years early, with net financial debt of 82.9% of GDP in 2025-26 and 83.5% in 2026-27,
06:53before falling to 83.4% in 2027-28, 83.2% in 2028-29 and then to 82.7% in 2029-30,
07:07providing a headroom of £15.1 billion in the final year of the forecast,
07:12broadly unchanged from the autumn. After the last Government doubled the national debt,
07:27debt interest payments now stand at £105.2 billion this year.
07:33Mr Speaker, that is more than we allocate to Defence,
07:36the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice combined. That is the legacy of the party opposites.
07:45So the responsible choice is to reduce our levels of debt and borrowing in the years ahead,
07:51so that we can spend more on the priorities of working people,
07:54and that is exactly what this Government will do.
07:58Mr Speaker, I said that our fiscal rules were non-negotiable, and I meant it. I will always
08:05deliver economic stability, and I will always put working people first. I said it at the election,
08:12I said it at the Budget, and I say it again today.
08:18Let me now set out the steps that the Government have taken.
08:22At the Budget, we protected working people by keeping our promise
08:26not to raise their rates of national insurance, income tax or VAT.
08:34At the same time, we began to rebuild our public services,
08:37after the party opposite left a £22 billion black hole in our public finances.
08:44Ours were the right choices, the right choices for stability and the right choices for renewal,
08:52funded by the decisions that we took on tax. As I promised in the autumn,
08:58this statement does not contain any further tax increases. But when working people are paying
09:05their taxes while still struggling with the cost of living, it cannot be right that others are
09:10still evading what they rightly owe in tax. In the Budget, I delivered the most ambitious
09:17package of measures that we have ever seen to cut down on tax evasion, raising £6.5 billion per year
09:25by the end of the forecast. Today, I go further, continuing our investment in cutting-edge
09:31technology, investing in the HMRC's capacity to crack down on tax avoidance, and setting
09:37out plans to increase the number of tax fraudsters charged every year by 20%. These changes raise a
09:43further £1 billion, taking the total revenue raised from reducing tax evasion under this
09:49Labour Government to £7.5 billion. These figures are verified by the Office for Budget Responsibility,
09:58and I want to thank my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary for his continued work in this area.
10:03Last week, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
10:11set out this Government's plans to reform the welfare system. The Labour party is the party
10:16of work. We believe that if you can work, you should work, but if you cannot work,
10:23you should be properly supported. This Government inherited a broken system. More than 1,000 people
10:31every day are qualifying for personal independence payments. One in eight young people are not
10:36in employment, education or training. If we do nothing, we are writing off an entire generation.
10:45That cannot be right, and we will not stand for it. It is a waste of their potential and
10:50it is a waste of their futures, and we will change it. As my right hon. Friend said in
10:57her statement last week, the final costings would be subject to the OBR's assessment.
11:03Today, the OBR has said that it estimates that the package will save £4.8 billion in the welfare
11:09budget, reflecting its judgments on behavioural effects and wider factors. This also reflects
11:15final adjustments to the overall package, consistent with the Secretary of State's
11:20statement last week and the Government's Pathways to Work Green Paper. The universal
11:25credit standard allowance will increase from £92 per week in 2025-26 to £106 a week by
11:322029-30, while the universal credit health element will be cut for new claimants by around
11:3850% and then frozen. On top of this, we are investing £1 billion to provide guaranteed
11:46personalised employment support to help people back into work, and £400 million to support
11:53the Department for Work and Pensions and our jobcentres to deliver these changes effectively
11:59and fairly, taking total savings after that to the package to £3.4 billion.
12:06While spending on disability and sickness benefits will continue to rise, these plans mean
12:11that welfare spending as a share of GDP will fall between 2026 and the end of the forecast period—very
12:18different from what we inherited from the party opposite. We are reforming our welfare system,
12:25making it more sustainable, protecting the most vulnerable and, most importantly,
12:30supporting more people back into secure work, lifting them out of poverty.
12:39At the budget, I fixed the foundations of our economy to deliver on the promise of change.
12:44That work has already begun. There are 2 million extra appointments in our NHS,
12:51waiting lists down, new breakfast clubs opening across England, the largest settlements in real
12:58terms for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the history of devolution, asylum costs falling,
13:04promises made, promises kept, and every single one of them opposed by the parties opposite.
13:11At the budget, alongside providing an increase in funding for this year and next,
13:18I set the envelope for the spending review, which we will deliver in June,
13:22led by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to set departmental budgets until
13:2728-29 for day-to-day spending and until 20-29-30 for capital spending. Today, I am reflecting two
13:35steps that we have taken on our spending plans. First, because we are living in an uncertain
13:41world, as the Prime Minister has set out, we will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP,
13:48reducing overseas aid to 0.3% of gross national income. This means we save £2.6 billion in
13:56day-to-day spending in 20-29-30 to fund our more capital-intensive defence commitments.
14:03Second, in recent months we have begun to fundamentally reform the British state,
14:09driving efficiency and productivity across Government to deliver tangible savings and
14:14improve services across our country. Earlier this Prime Minister set out plans to abolish
14:20the arm's-length body NHS England and ensure that that money goes directly to improving the service
14:27for patients. My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary is driving forward vital reforms to
14:33increase NHS productivity, bearing down on costly agency spend to save money so that we can improve
14:40patient care. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is taking forward work
14:46to significantly reduce the costs of running Government by 15%, worth £2 billion by the end
14:53of the decade. This work shows that we can make our state leaner and more agile, delivering more
14:59resources to the front line while ensuring that we control day-to-day spending to meet our fiscal
15:05rules. Today I build on that work by bringing forward £3.25 billion of investment to deliver
15:12the reforms that our public services need through a new transformation fund. That is money brought
15:18forward now to bring down the costs of running Government by the end of the forecast period,
15:24by making public services more efficient, more productive and more focused on the user.
15:31I can confirm today the first allocations from this fund, including funding for voluntary exit
15:37schemes to reduce the size of the civil service, pioneering AI tools to modernise the state,
15:44investment in technology for the Ministry of Justice to deliver probation services more
15:49effectively, and up-front investment so that we can support more children into foster care
15:55to give them the best possible start in life and reduce cost pressures in the future.
16:02Our work to make Government leaner, more productive and more efficient will help
16:07deliver a further £3.5 billion of day-to-day savings by 2029-30. Overall, day-to-day spending
16:16will be reduced by £6.1 billion in 2029-30, and it will now grow by an average of 1.2% a year
16:25above inflation, compared to 1.3% in the autumn. I can confirm to the House that day-to-day spending
16:34will increase in real terms above inflation in every single year of the forecast,
16:42and in the spending review, apart from the reductions in overseas aid,
16:46day-to-day spending across Government has been fully protected.
16:52I can also confirm our approach to capital investment. In the autumn Budget, I announced
16:58£100 billion of additional capital spending to crowd in investment from the private sector,
17:04to fix our crumbling infrastructure and to create jobs in every corner of our country.
17:09Today, I am not cutting capital spending, as the party opposite did time and time again,
17:16because that choked off growth and it left our school roofs literally crumbling.
17:22That was the wrong choice. It was the irresponsible choice. It was the Tory choice.
17:28Today, I am instead increasing capital spending by an average of £2 billion per year, compared
17:36with the autumn, to drive growth in our economy and to deliver in full our vital commitments
17:42on defence. This Government will ensure that every pound we spend will deliver for the British
17:50people by increasing productivity, driving growth in our economy and improving our front-line public
17:57services. Let me turn now to the impact of increased uncertainty on our economy.
18:07To deliver economic stability, we must work closely with the Bank of England,
18:11supporting the Independent Monetary Policy Committee to meet its 2% inflation target.
18:17There have been three interest rate cuts since the general election,
18:21and today's data showed that inflation fell in February. Having peaked at 11%
18:27under the previous Government, the OBR forecast that CPI inflation will average 3.2% this year,
18:37before falling rapidly to 2.1% in 2026 and meeting the 2% target from 2027 onwards,
18:46giving families and businesses the security they need and providing our economy with the
18:53stable platform it needs to grow. Earlier this month, the OECD downgraded this year's growth
19:01forecast for every G7 economy, including the UK, and the OBR has today revised down our growth
19:08forecast for 2025, from 2% in the autumn to 1% today. I am not satisfied with these numbers,
19:17and that is why we on this side of the House are serious about taking the action needed
19:22to grow our economy—backing the builders, not the blockers, with a third runway at Heathrow
19:28airport and the planning and infrastructure Bill, increasing investment with reforms to
19:33our pension system and a new national wealth fund, and tearing down regulatory barriers in
19:39every sector of our economy. That is a serious plan for growth. That is a serious plan to improve
19:45living standards. That is a serious plan to renew our country. A changing world presents challenges,
19:55but it also presents new opportunities for new jobs and new contracts. In our world-class
20:02defence industrial centres, from Belfast to Deeside and from Plymouth to Rosyth,
20:09in February the Prime Minister set out our Government's commitment to increase spending
20:13on defence to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027—the biggest sustained increase in defence spending
20:21since the end of the cold war—with an ambition to spend 3% of GDP on defence in the next Parliament.
20:29That was the right decision in a more insecure world, putting an extra £6.4 billion into defence
20:36spending by 2027. But we have to move quickly in this changing world, and that starts with
20:43investment. So today I can confirm that I will provide an additional £2.2 billion for the
20:49Ministry of Defence in the next financial year—a further down payment on our plans to deliver 2.5%
20:57of GDP by 2027. This additional investment is not just about increasing our national security,
21:05but increasing our economic security too. As defence spending rises, I want the whole country
21:12to feel its benefits, so I will now set out the immediate steps that we are taking to boost
21:17Britain's defence industry and to make the UK a defence industrial superpower.
21:23We will spend a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defence's equipment budget on new novel
21:30technologies, including drones and AI-enabled technology, driving forward advanced manufacturing
21:36production in places like Glasgow, Derby and Newport, creating demand for highly skilled
21:43engineers and scientists, and delivering new business opportunities for UK tech firms and
21:49start-ups. We will establish a protected budget of £400 million within the Ministry of Defence—a
21:56budget that will rise over time for UK defence innovation—with a clear mandate to bring
22:02innovative technology to the front line at speed. We will reform our broken defence procurement
22:09system, making it quicker, more agile and more streamlined, and giving small businesses across
22:15the UK better access to Ministry of Defence contracts—something welcomed by the Federation
22:20of Small Businesses. We will take forward our plan for Barrow, a town at the heart of our
22:26nuclear security, working with my hon. Friend the Member for Barrow-on-Furness and providing
22:32£200 million, supporting the creation of thousands of jobs there. We will regenerate
22:39Portsmouth Naval Base, securing its future, as called for by my hon. Friend the Member for
22:44Portsmouth South. We will secure better homes for thousands of military families—the homes
22:50that they deserve, denied to them by the previous Government. We will secure homes for our military
22:55families in constituencies of my hon. Friends Plymouth-Moorview, Plymouth-Sutton and Devonport,
23:01York Outer and Aldershot. That is the difference that this Labour Government are making.
23:06Finally, we will provide £2 billion of increased capacity for UK export finance,
23:15to provide loans for overseas buyers of UK defence goods and services, because I want
23:21to do more with our defence budget so that we can buy, make and sell things here in Britain,
23:27giving further opportunities for our world-leading defence companies and those who work in them
23:32to grow and create jobs here in Britain, as military spending rightly increases all across
23:37Europe. To oversee all of this vital work, my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary and I
23:44will establish a new defence growth board to maximise the benefits from every pound of
23:49taxpayers' money that we spend, and we will put defence at the heart of our modern industrial
23:55strategy to drive innovation that can deliver huge benefits back into the British economy.
24:04That is how we make our country a defence industrial superpower,
24:08so that the skills of the future, the jobs of the future and the opportunities of the future
24:14can be found right here in the United Kingdom. As the previous Government learned to their detriment,
24:22there are no shortcuts to economic growth. It will take long-term decisions. It will take
24:28hard yards. It will take time for the reforms that we are introducing to be felt in the everyday
24:34economy. It is right that the Office for Budget Responsibility considers the evidence and looks
24:41carefully at measures before recognising a growth impact in its forecast.
24:45However, I can announce to the House that the Office for Budget Responsibility has considered
24:52and has scored one of the central planks of our plan for growth. In my first week as Chancellor,
24:58I announced that we were pursuing the most ambitious set of planning reforms in decades
25:03to get Britain building again. In December, we published changes to the national planning policy
25:11framework, driven forward tirelessly by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister,
25:18reintroducing mandatory housing targets and bringing greybelt land into scope.
25:24The Office for Budget Responsibility has today concluded that these reforms
25:28will permanently increase the level of real GDP by 0.2% in 2039-40,
25:37an additional £6.8 billion for our economy, and by 0.4% of GDP within 10 years,
25:46an additional £15.1 billion in our British economy. That is the biggest positive growth
25:56impact that the OBR has ever reflected in its forecast for a policy with no fiscal cost.
26:06Taken together with our plans to increase capital spending that we set out in the
26:11Budget last year, this Government's policies will increase the level of real GDP by 0.6%
26:17in the next 10 years. That is the difference that this Labour Government are making.
26:23These are policies to grow our economy—promises delivered by a Labour Government opposed by the
26:33parties opposite. The planning system that we inherited was far too slow. The OBR has concluded
26:43that our reforms will lead to house building reaching a 40-year high,
26:50305,000 homes a year by the end of the forecast period, and changes to the national planning
26:58policy framework alone will help build over 1.3 million homes in the UK over the next five years,
27:07which will take us within touching distance of delivering our manifesto promise to build
27:131.5 million homes in England in this Parliament—homes promised by this Labour Government,
27:20homes built by this Labour Government, and homes opposed by the parties opposite.
27:28The impact on our economy goes further still. I said at the election that we could not simply
27:34tax and spend our way to prosperity. We need economic growth, so I can today confirm that
27:42the effect of our growth policies, including our planning reforms, means an additional £3.4 billion
27:49to support our public finances and our public services by 2029-30. The proceeds of growth,
27:57promised by this Labour Government, delivered by this Labour Government,
28:01and homes opposed by the parties opposite.
28:07Earlier this week, we provided an additional £2 billion of investment in social and affordable
28:13homes next year, delivering up to 18,000 new homes and allowing local areas to bid for new
28:21development across our country, including sites in Thanet, Sunderland and Swindon.
28:28More security for families across our country, promised by this Labour Government,
28:33delivered by this Labour Government, and opposed by the parties opposite.
28:38And to build these new homes, we need people with the right skills.
28:43Earlier this week, my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary announced more than £600
28:47million to train up 60,000 more construction workers, including with 10 new technical
28:54excellence colleges across every region of our country, giving working people the chance to
29:00fulfil their potential. New opportunities for our young people, promised by this Labour Government,
29:06delivered by this Labour Government, and opposed by the parties opposite.
29:14All this is just the start. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
29:18passed its second reading on Monday. No thanks to the parties opposite.
29:23Once this Bill completes its passage, it will help deliver the homes and infrastructure
29:29our country badly needs. And I say to the parties opposite, the British people will be watching.
29:38Because if the parties opposite do not support these reforms, let us be clear about what that
29:44means. They are opposing economic growth. They are opposing more homes for families.
29:51They are opposing good jobs across our country.
29:56We on this side are clear about whose side we are on. The parties opposite must decide too.
30:04This Labour Government is taking the right decisions now to secure Britain's future.
30:10And today, I can confirm to the House that the OBR
30:14have upgraded their growth forecast next year and every single year thereafter.
30:22With GDP growth of 1.9% in 2026, of 1.8% in 2027, 1.7% in 2028, and 1.8% in 2029.
30:42Mr Speaker, by the end of the forecast, our economy is larger compared to the OBR's forecast
30:50at the time of the Budget. That is the difference that this Labour Government is making.
30:57But Mr Speaker, this isn't just about lines on a graph. It's about improving people's lives.
31:04Working people are still feeling the pinch after a cost of living crisis
31:08caused by the party opposite that caused interest rates and inflation to go through the roof.
31:14So I am pleased that the OBR confirmed today that real household disposable income
31:22will now grow this year at almost twice the rate expected in the autumn.
31:28Compared to the forecast in the final Budget delivered by the party opposite,
31:33and after taking into account inflation, the OBR say today that people will be on average
31:40on average over £500 a year better off under this Labour Government.
31:48That will mean more money, more money in the pockets of working people,
31:53higher living standards promised by this Labour Government,
31:57delivered by this Labour Government, opposed by the party's opposite.
32:02Mr Speaker, the world is changing. We can see that and we can feel it.
32:12A changing world demands a government that is on the side of working people,
32:17acting in their interest, acting in the national interest. Not retreating from challenges,
32:25not stepping back, but a government with the courage to step up.
32:31To secure Britain's future and to seize the opportunities that are out there before us.
32:37I am impatient for change. The British people are impatient for change after 14 years of failure.
32:46We are beginning to see change happen. Our plan for change is working. Defence spending is rising.
32:53Waiting lists are falling. Wages are up. Interest rates are cut.
32:58That is the difference that this Labour Government is making.
33:03And today, Mr Speaker, the OBR confirm that our plan to get Britain building will drive growth
33:10in our economy and put more money in people's pockets. There are no quick fixes, but we have
33:17taken the right choices. Returning stability to our economy after years of mismanagement by the
33:22party opposite. Delivering security for our country and security for working people.
33:29That is what drives this government. That is what drives me as Chancellor. That is what drives the
33:36choices that I have set out today. And I commend this statement to the House.