There are glimmers of economic hope, but driving people into poverty will cast a long shadow

Reeves highlighted the shaky global context that has resulted in borrowing costs being driven up for most major economies

- Heather Stewart

The bruising row over welfare cuts in the run-up to Rachel Reeves's spring statement led to the Treasury being portrayed as a gang of bullies with spreadsheets, ranging across Whitehall. Her moment in the spotlight yesterday allowed the chancellor to set these wrangles over tax and spend in a wider context: as a precondition for rebuilding the UK.

Reeves reminded MPs of the knock-on impact of Liz Truss's unfunded spending splurge in 2022, and rightly highlighted the shaky global context that has resulted in borrowing costs being driven up for most major economies. Her fiscal rules were, she said, "the embodiment of this government's unwavering commitment to bring stability to the economy". In a swipe at her critics, she added: "There is nothing progressive, there is nothing Labour, about working people paying the price of economic irresponsibility."

Those deep cuts to welfare were there - including an extra £500m scrambled together at the last minute after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) rejected the Treasury's initial costings.