Nigel Farage’s Reform UK torn aside by Rachel Reeves at Spring Statement
Referring to a flurry of defections from the Tory ranks to Mr Farage’s right-wing party, the Chancellor said: ‘If you import failed Tory politicians you get failed Tory policies’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves leaving No11 ahead of the Spring Statement(Image: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock)
Rachel Reeves has branded Reform UK a “Tory tribute act” as she ridiculed Nigel Farage for being absent for the Spring Statement.
Updating MPs, the Chancellor said Reform and the Conservatives were “united in their intention to plunge nearly half a million children back into poverty”. Ms Reeves was referring to the Government’s decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which she described as a “moral choice”.
She said: “The Tories have said they would reinstate that destructive policy and now Reform are saying exactly the same thing. Two parties united in their intention to plunge nearly half a million children back into poverty in a single stroke.”
Referring to a flurry of defections from the Tory ranks to Mr Farage’s right-wing party, she added: “If you import failed Tory politicians you get failed Tory policies too. Labour and only Labour has the right economic plan for families and for our country.”
READ MORE: Spring Statement 2026 LIVE: Rachel Reeves says public will be £1,000 better off per year
She went on: “They may have changed the colour of their rosettes – but they are the exact same people who wrecked our public finances.”
Ms Reeves also used her Spring Statement to promise voters will be better off by the next election by £1,000 per-year.
And updating MPs on growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) she insisted the government had the “right economic plan”.
The OBR indicated gross domestic product will increase by 1.1% in 2026, down from the 1.4% it forecast in November. But the watchdog upgraded its forecasts for 2027 and 2028 from 1.5% to 1.6%.
Ms Reeves said: “This Government has the right economic plan for our country, a plan that is even more important in a world that in the last few days has become yet more uncertain.”
She added: “The new forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility confirm that our plan is the right one – inflation is down, borrowing is down, living standards are up and the economy is growing.”
But her plans have been dramatically overshadowed by war in the Middle East, with oil and gas prices surging.
Ms Reeves said today her economic plan was “even more important in a world that in the last few days has become yet more uncertain”. She said it was “incumbent on me and on this Government to chart a course through that uncertainty”.
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