{"id":326809,"date":"2026-03-03T14:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326809\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:55:09","slug":"spring-statement-live-reeves-insists-economic-plan-working-as-uk-growth-forecast-lowered-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326809\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Statement live: Reeves insists economic plan working as UK growth forecast lowered for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Analysis\"Come the next Budget, there could be need for more tax or spending changespublished at 14:00 GMT<\/p>\n

14:00 GMT<\/p>\n

\"\"Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor<\/p>\n

Safe – but for how long?<\/p>\n

Relief for the chancellor as the official forecasts deem she’s still on track to meet her main target for the public finances, with a slightly larger amount left to spare than previously thought.<\/p>\n

The impact of weaker than expected growth on the public finance forecasts has been more than balanced out by lower borrowing costs, higher share prices and a bigger tax take.<\/p>\n

But at just shy of \u00a324bn, that safety margin, the amount by which her revenues are expected to exceed day-to-day public spending in a few years time, remains smaller than the historical average.<\/p>\n

And the OBR were mindful of the tension in the Middle East building as it put the finishing touches on its predictions. That has since exploded – investors may have been watching the gyrations of energy markets more closely than the chancellor.<\/p>\n

It is highly uncertain how long the volatility in energy prices will last. But if sustained, economists are already speculating that the chancellor will, at the least, struggle to end the freeze on fuel duty come the Budget.<\/p>\n

Add in the risks of higher inflation, interest rates and dent to activity and that margin, the headroom could be wiped out. <\/p>\n

That may not happen – but as the OBR flags, there are other risks this year alone – pressures to bump up defence and health spending, the cost of housing migrants.<\/p>\n

The OBR is paid to be cautious. But it means that, come the autumn Budget, there could still be a need for tax or spending changes – if the sums on the public finances are to add up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Come the next Budget, there could be need for more tax or spending changespublished at 14:00 GMT 14:00…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-326809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}