Thursday 05 March 2026 11:30 am  |  Updated:  Thursday 05 March 2026 11:31 am

Watch: War brings Reeves’ failures into focus

By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief

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War in the Middle East rendered the Chancellor’s Spring Statement “irrelevant” according to City analysts as the economic impacts of the Iran conflict become frighteningly clear.

Rachel Reeves made just a passing mention of the Iran war when she addressed MPs on Tuesday, referring briefly to global instability while trying to paint a picture of domestic economic harmony. I can’t sugar coat it; the Chancellor appeared out of the loop, out of depth and out of ideas. 

We’ll come back to the war and its economic consequences in a moment but first let’s consider what Reeves said about the government’s record. “Our plan is working,” she insisted, claiming again and again that government policies are bearing fruit and that we can’t afford a change of course. Opposition MPs said there was more gaslighting than Victorian London; the shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the Chancellor was “in denial” – asking “what planet is she on?”

It was a fair point, given that Reeves claimed her plan is working on the very day that the official watchdog downgraded this year’s GDP growth........

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