In a Spring Statement promised to be bereft of new tax policy, chancellor Rachel Reeves stuck to her pledge to hold just one major Budget a year and made no tax changes.

Faced with the usual boos and cheers from the backbenches, the chancellor told MPs: ‘Our plan is even more important in a world that in the last few days has become yet more uncertain. With unfolding conflict in Iran and the Middle East it is incumbent on me and this government to chart a course through that uncertainty to secure our economy against shocks.’

Turning out to be the fiscal ‘non-event’ predicted, the chancellor spent most of her 41-minute speech quoting from the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) March 2026 economic and fiscal outlook.

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