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Rachel Reeves came under fire from the Tories after delivering her spring statement. Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride began his response in the Commons by asking the Chancellor: "Is that it?"

He went on: "What utter complacency, a Chancellor in denial. She speaks of stability, what planet is she on?" The Conservative frontbencher also branded Ms Reeves's address as a "surrender statement".

He said: "She has lurched from putting up taxes to destroying growth, to destroying headroom, to coming back to putting up more taxes, more growth destroyed. Round and round we go, like a fiscal twister ripping up everything in its path.

"As our economy bleeds out, what does she do? She comes to this house with nothing to say and with no plan, unless of course doing nothing is a cunning plan to avoid those U-turns further down the line.

Sir Mel added: "She is weak. She has even stripped the OBR of its ability to assess whether she is meeting her fiscal targets. So, let it be remembered that at this time in this chamber, this weak and chaotic government gave up on the British people.

"She has nothing to say to us today. This is not a spring statement, it is a surrender statement."

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It comes after Ms Reeves insisted she had the "right economic plan" for the UK despite the budget watchdog slashing its forecast for growth this year.

The Office for Budget Responsibility 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%.

Updating MPs about the state of the economy and public finances, Ms Reeves told the Commons: "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."