Ruth Cadbury on the government’s spring economic forecast

Ruth Cadbury, Labour MP for Brentford & Isleworth, discusses the chancellor’s spring economic forecast and the government’s long-term plan for growth in this week’s column.

Earlier this week the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered the government’s spring economic forecast in Parliament. Any news at the moment is rightly overshadowed and impacted by the continued military conflict that we are witnessing across the Gulf region, with military action already having an impact on the global economy. However, this week I want to address the economic forecast and the government’s economic plan.

To get our economy to grow at the levels we need to properly fund our public services, so I believe that we need to focus on three key areas - stability, investment and economic reform. Successive shocks to our economy, such as Brexit, Covid-19 and Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget each delivered deep economic shocks.

A historic lack of investment in our economy and key infrastructure has meant that the UK is less productive compared to countries like France and Germany. We know that investing in infrastructure helps to grow the economy and support well-paid secure jobs for families, while having a healthy workforce helps to boost productivity.

Finally, I believe we need to reform how our economy and society works so that we can tackle the huge levels of inequality that have developed in the UK since the financial crash in 2008.

I am pleased that on these three areas we have seen a positive record from the government so far. The government’s careful management of public spending has meant we have stabilised our economy, with interest rates cut six times and the UKs borrowing levels at the lowest level for six years. I know that there are always areas where people want to see more public spending but the tight budgetary pressures facing the government, along with the need to increase defence spending, mean that the government face difficult decisions.

Despite this the government have reformed investment rules to ensure we can invest more money in sensible long-term projects that will benefit our country. The £45 billion committed to transforming Northern Rail is just one example of this. It’s a project that will help tackle regional inequality, improve productivity and connect communities across the North by building new lines and new stations and providing much needed upgrades for existing stations and lines.

The chancellor has also taken much needed action to reform our economy and tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Increasing the living wage, expanding universal credit for struggling families and freezing NHS prescriptions will all help keep down the extra costs that families face. On top of that, longer term reforms the government are taking will make a big difference, such as approving new solar and wind farms, which create well-paid jobs and investment, while delivering secure energy sources which are less reliant on overseas energy sources.

I know that there is much more to do. I want to see the government take action to end the high costs facing graduates with the unfair student loan scheme and I want to see further action to support high street hospitality businesses who are continuing to struggle with record high costs. I will continue to work on these important issues while also ensuring that that we have the stability, investment and reform that we need in our economy.