Spring Forecast Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: HM Treasury

Spring Forecast

Sureena Brackenridge Excerpts
Tuesday 3rd March 2026

(1 day, 9 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

In every month since I became Chancellor of the Exchequer wages have risen faster than inflation. We have increased the national minimum wage and the national living wage to put more money in the pockets of the poorest people, and the interest rate cuts mean that a typical family getting a fixed-rate mortgage will be paying £1,300 less a year than when I became Chancellor. The OBR confirmed today that GDP per capita will rise by 5.6% over the course of this Parliament. I recognise that the legacy of the previous Conservative Government still runs deep and that it will take a while for people to feel the impact of these policies, but I am confident that this will be the year that things start to turn around.

Sureena Brackenridge Portrait Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Does the Chancellor agree that restoring confidence and hope for families in Wolverhampton and Willenhall is achieved through a stable economy, with borrowing, debt interest and inflation falling faster than expected, moving away from the chaos of spiralling mortgage rates and towards the stability of falling rates?

Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I was very pleased recently to spend some time in my hon. Friend’s constituency, where we met a family who are now able to get on the housing ladder because of the reduction in interest rates. Instead of living with mum and dad, that couple and their young child are now able to get a home of their own. That is only possible because of the stability that we have returned to the economy, giving the Bank of England space to cut interest rates six times since I became Chancellor.