'Reckless Rachel has taxed jobs, destroyed livelihoods and crushed companies on the altar of her ineptitude'

RACHEL Reeves was yesterday branded "reckless" and blamed for tanking the economy after she announced a raft of spending cuts in a bid to balance the books.

- By Martyn Brown

The beleaguered Chancellor was forced to lay out humiliating measures to offset stalling growth.

Ms Reeves stressed the grim realities facing the UK as she delivered her spring statement to MPs, arguing that the "world has changed".

The desperate excuse came as she scrambled to fill a £14billion black hole left in public finances, after her massive tax-and-spend autumn Budget was followed by an economic slowdown.

Amid a dire economic forecast, the Chancellor swung the axe at Britain's bloated welfare bill, lopping off £3.4billion.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride accused Ms Reeves of having "tanked the economy".

He declared: "She taxed jobs and wealth creation, she's destroyed livelihoods, businesses clobbered big and small...small companies the backbone of our economy, enterprise crushed on the altar of her ineptitude."

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice called the "emergency Budget" an "entirely avoidable" disaster. He added: "The economy is shrinking, growth is collapsing towards recession, energy bills soaring because of net zero, the cost of Government borrowing soaring back to 15-year highs and the job market is collapsing."

Ms Reeves confirmed that at least 10,000 civil service jobs will go, with desperately needed funding redirected to frontline services such as policing.

In a bitter blow to the Chancellor, the Office for Budget Responsibility halved its economic growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to an embarrassing 1%.