Reeves says poverty figures from spring statement cuts don’t take into account impact of getting people into work – as it happened

6.10pm GMT

Early evening summary

• Rachel Reeves blamed “global uncertainty” as she announced swingeing cuts to welfare and other public spending designed to plug a fiscal hole caused by soaring borrowing costs and sluggish economic growth. Here is an explainer with the key points from Rob Davies and Peter Walker.

Here is an analysis by Heather Stewart, the Guardian’s economics editor.

• More than 3 million households will lose out as a result of the government’s sweeping cuts to welfare, according to the official analysis, with an extra 250,000 people falling into relative poverty by 2029-30.

• Reeves must cope with lower growth and higher borrowing costs this year, as the Office for Budget Responsibility said the global economic situation was more unpredictable and could worsen if Donald Trump imposed significant trade tariffs.

• Shares in defence stocks have risen after Reeves announced additional spending for the sector. Babcock, the UK defence engineering company, rallied by 1.8% today while Qinetiq has jumped by 6.8%.

Updated at 6.18pm GMT

5.55pm GMT

Treasury minister Darren Jones urged to apologise for 'pocket money' comment in discussion over benefit cuts

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, was on Politics Live earlier (the other one, the BBC version) and, asked about the impact assessment saying the disability cuts will push 250,000 more people into poverty, he argued that these figures did not take into account the postive impact of people finding work. (Rachel Reeves used the same argument a few minutes ago – see 5.19pm).

But then, to explain his point, Jones said that if he cut his children’s pocket money by £10 a week, but told them to set a Saturday job, an impact assessment would say they were losing £10 a week – without taking into account the extra cash they would get from the Saturday job.

"If I cut my child's pocket money by £10 a week and tell them to get a Saturday job..."

Minister Darren Jones on disabled people losing £4,500 a year because of the governments cuts. pic.twitter.com/vvKnJbGuED

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 26, 2025

Jones was not saying that Pip was like pocket money, or that disability benefit claimants are like children. But that hasn’t stopped his comment being interpreted as if he were (which on its own is enough to show that he probably should not have said it).

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an apology. Steve Darling, the Lib Dem work and pensions spokesperson, said:

This is incredibly insulting and shows the government just doesn’t understand the challenges facing people with disabilities. Darren Jones owes an apology to the hundreds of thousands of people his government’s decision has pushed into poverty and the millions more whose lives they have made more challenging.