A Lullaby to Voters: Reeves’ Spring Statement Promises Stability, Not Solutions

Rachel Reeves delivered her spring statement to MPs in the Commons (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)

The 2025 Spring Statement is Rachel Reeves’ best attempt at a lullaby to voters. ‘Nothing to see here, we’ve got it under control!’ After years of economic turbulence and austerity, and a cost-of-living crisis that’s still squeezing finances, the Chancellor was never going to go on a spending spree.

Much of what was announced appears designed less to kickstart economic momentum, and more to avoid risk. Government debt is to fall, inflation is to stabilise, and public services are to be “protected,” though the details of how that will happen are typically sparse.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects GDP growth to remain slow. Estimating just over 1% this year and slightly more in 2026. Inflation continues to erode spending power, and wages aren’t growing as fast as in previous years. The cost-of-living crisis may no longer dominate headlines like it did in 2022/23, but it continues to shape the reality of many shoppers’ habits. The continuous increases in the price of food and utilities show there’s little relief for many households.

Reeves is walking a fine line, and she knows it. Her priority is to avoid any repeat of Liz Truss’ disastrous 2022 Minibudget, where unfunded tax cuts triggered market chaos and a near-collapse in economic confidence. (She was also compared to a rotting lettuce which I think is worse!) The Spring Statement is, in many ways, the opposite of Truss’ budget. It was careful, unambitious, and frankly a bit dull. Reeves has pledged to bring down debt as a percentage of GDP by the end of the next parliament, and her path to doing so relies heavily on restraint.

This takes several forms. Working-age benefits will be frozen, with additional savings to be found in tightening disability support eligibility (Something that hasn’t gone down too well). Local authorities, many already having massive debts, are expected to deliver more services with the same budget. These are not minor adjustments. They represent a continuation of the same pressure on public services that defined much of the past decade. The difference is that they are being delivered under a different banner, one that promises “sound money” rather than “austerity,” but the effect may prove similar.

On the other hand, some areas will see a funding boost, though the numbers are less substantial than the language may suggest. A new infrastructure fund, billed as the heart of Labour’s Levelling Up plan, has been allocated £10 billion, though this includes previously announced funds. Investments in green energy and transport have been announced, but again, many of the headline figures are repackaged or rebranded initiatives. The Government has chosen to not pursue big, flashy, new capital projects in favour of moderate, dispersed commitments.

What Reeves has produced is a budget that seeks to do a lot, with very little. There are no new taxes, no major spending commitments, and no structural reforms. There is instead a series of signals. To the market: that Labour will not spend recklessly (like they’ve accused their predecessors of doing). To voters: that help is coming, albeit slowly, and in dribs and drabs. And to public services: that the struggle continues.

It's politically cautious and economically reserved. Reeves is aware of the 2010s narrative that Labour can’t be trusted with the public purse. She’s chosen to move incrementally, and in doing so, avoids the mistakes of her predecessors. There is nothing in the Spring Statement that suggests a transformative vision for the economy.

The risks should not be understated. Freezing benefits during a period of high inflation will have real human costs, particularly among low-income families and disabled people. Local councils have already begun warning that essential services will face cuts. But at this point, that has become a familiar sight. The NHS remains under extraordinary pressure, with waiting times still near record highs and staff shortages showing no signs of relenting. None of these issues are addressed head-on in the statement. They are addressed in passing, but with these issues at the front of voters’ minds, and local elections just around the corner, this may not be the wisest of plans.

What this Statement suggests is that the Government sees 2025 as a year to consolidate, not to act. Get its ducks in order, if you like. Labour is playing the long game, focused more on re-election than reform. By avoiding controversy and limiting ambition, it hopes to appear safe, steady, and electable. The danger, however, is that in doing so it underestimates the scale of the problems it has inherited. But voters are fed up with problems here and cuts there.

In the end, the 2025 Spring Statement reads more like a pause than a plan. Whether that will be enough is a question not for the markets, but for voters.