Spring statement 2025

On 26 March, chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her first spring statement to the House of Commons and presented the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast. Reeves committed to hold just one main fiscal event per year – a budget in the autumn – so she hoped that this would be a low-key affair with few if any policy announcements. 

But the economic environment had changed since the autumn budget, with global uncertainty increasing government borrowing costs and weakening growth prospects. 

The Institute for Government provided analysis in advance and in response to the statement, assessing how the OBR’s forecast has changed, how that affects the government’s adherence to its fiscal rules, how it might choose to respond and what this all meant for June’s multi-year spending review.