Reeves refuses to rule out emergency cuts to spending.

Rachel Reeves has not ruled out emergency spending cuts as she seeks to calm nerves following days of market turmoil. A defiant chancellor yesterday tried to face down her critics, rejecting claims the potential looming crisis was made in Downing Street” and urging opponents to get real”.

- MILLIE COOKE KATE DEVLIN

Facing a grilling from MPs in the Commons over the rising cost of government borrowing and the recent falls in the value of the pound, she admitted they underlined the need to go “further and faster” in search of economic growth. And she refused to rule out future spending cuts, saying she would not write “five years of budgets in the first six months of a Labour government” as she doubled down on a commitment to stick to the government’s fiscal rules.

The rules require day-to-day spending to be met from revenues rather than further borrowing. But rising borrowing costs will eat into the funding available, which could force Ms Reeves to act to either reduce spending or raise taxes to comply with her rules when the budget watchdog gives its updated forecast in March. Hours later Downing Street refused to rule out an emergency budget in the spring.

Ms Reeves insisted that the rise in bond yields seen in the UK markets was an international problem. “I do not believe that it is reasonable to suggest that the reason why bond yields in the United States, in Germany and France have risen is because of decisions now by this government,” she told MPs.