Chancellor Rachel Reeves makes her Spring Statement today. Having said in her October Budget that there would be only one fiscal statement each year from her Labour Government, she is expected to justify announcement of her refreshed economic plan by blaming global market turmoil triggered by US President Donald Trump’s trade war, rather than what so many businesses have called the devastating effect of her record-breaking £40bn in tax hikes. These include increasing Employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) despite Labour pledging not to put NICs up in their General Election manifesto, a line Reeves repeated daily on the campaign trail. In a statement released to the press last night, she cited a “changing world” for the lack of economic growth she also promised, and announced she will make further cuts to welfare benefits and government departmental spending today. This announcement follows criticism of her plans to make £5bn in savings by cutting benefits by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – the body Labour promised it would “strengthen” in its Manifesto – which says those who lose disability benefits will simply claim for more severe conditions instead, so her plans would only save £3.4bn. However, Reeves also announced yesterday that £2bn more cash would be made available to build 18,000 new social and affordable homes in England, on top of a £2.2bn increase in defence spending, despite the fact it has been revealed the fiscal headroom of £9.9bn she gave herself in October has been wiped out because borrowing costs have risen to their highest level since 1998. So how will she balance the books? We will find out around 12.30pm.

There has been some better news for the Chancellor this morning - The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just announced that inflation fell in February to 2.8%, down from 3% in January, and beating economists’ expectations of a fall to just 2.9%. “Inflation eased in February. Clothing prices, particularly for women’s clothes, was the biggest driver for this month’s fall,” Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said, adding: “This was only partially offset by small increases, for example, from alcoholic drinks.” The price of wine and spirits rose on 1^st February after Reeves hiked alcohol duty in line with inflation, and a new system of duties based on the strength of drinks came into effect. Higher costs in transport and communication sectors also contributed to inflation remaining above the Bank of England’s (BoE) 2% target. Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the Government was “protecting working people’s payslips from higher taxes”. “In a changing world, we’re focused on delivering economic stability to secure people’s finances – freezing fuel duty, protecting the [pensions] Triple Lock and increasing the national living wage by £1,400 a year for full-time workers, while going further and faster to drive growth through our Plan for Change,” he said. On Thursday last week, the BoE held interest rates at 4.5% and stuck to its prediction that inflation will peak at 3.75% this year. The OBR said in October that inflation would peak at 2.7% this year, but may update that expectation later.

There will be a full round of the announcements in Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement in tomorrow’s Daily Business News.

The £10bn-plus Lower Thames Crossing development has been approved by Transport Secretray Heidi Alexander. Having cleared this last planning hurdle, it will be the first new Thames crossing east of London in 60 years. The original cost of the build was estimated to be between £5.3bn and £6.8bn in 2017, but that had risen to around £9bn by 2022. More than £1.2bn has already been spent on the project - the planning application alone cost £300m. The 14.3 mile bridge between Kent and Essex is expected to ease congestion on the Dartford Crossing, however there will also be additional costs involved to improve local roads once the crossing opens, so they can cope with predicted increases in traffic. The route involves a twin-bore tunnel crossing under the Thames between Gravesend and Tilbury, linked north of the river by a new road to the M25 between junctions 29 and 30, and south of the river to the A2 at Thong.

Banking trade body UK Finance and consumer giant Which? have joined forces to lobby Ministers to force big tech and telecoms companies to share the cost of tackling online fraud. In 2023-24 nearly £1.2bn was stolen through payment fraud, equivalent to more than £2,000-per-minute. Sky News has obtained a joint letter from the two bodies to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Home secretary Yvette Cooper, revealing it reads: "Before the election the Prime Minister highlighted the role the financial services sector plays in supporting customers who've been defrauded, including through the Payment Systems Regulator's (PSR) newly introduced mandatory reimbursement scheme for APP fraud victims.^[1] He also outlined the need for big tech to step up and do more, calling for these firms to have a 'clear obligation' and 'financial incentive' to work with banks and law enforcement agencies to identify and stop fraudsters from targeting UK consumers. Which? and the banking sector wholeheartedly agree". Ministers should ensure the cost of dealing with fraud was shared with tech and telecoms companies, it continued, and should "accelerate the publication of a Fraud Strategy in which it sets out its plans to close gaps in consumer protections, especially in relation to online advertising… and to improve consumer protections from scam calls and texts".

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator has accused Ticketmaster of misleading fans who paid premium prices for ‘platinum tickets’ to see Oasis in concert because they offered no additional benefits whatsoever to standard seat ticket holders, despite being nearly three times the price. The CMA also pointed to a lack of transparency on standing tickets: Ticketmaster failed to inform fans that cheaper standing tickets were sold, before releasing expensive new ones. As a result, thousands of people queued for the tickets without knowing how much they would have to pay until the last step, forcing them to make split-second decisions as to whether or not to buy. The CMA investigated the sale after multiple complaints from fans, and then demanded Ticketmaster change how it labels tickets and displays pricing information. Fans have long accused Ticketmaster of confusing pricing models and opaque resale markets, but the firm has as yet escaped major regulatory intervention.

Shell is to ramp up gas sales and more than halve its exposure to wind and solar farms, reducing the amount it spends annually on “low-carbon” projects – such as renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture – by up to one third, to $2-3bn (£1.6-2.3bn) per year. A spokesman for the British oil giant said it was “investing in our areas of strength,” which means prioritising “investments in flexible generation, such as gas-fired power plants, large-scale batteries and digital technologies.” A month ago, BP announced plans to cut its spending on renewable energy by £5bn a year, and it was suggested that the FTSE 100 firm’s net zero goals might be scrapped completely.

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has warned that global Net zero goals could make flying “something for the privileged,” because the higher costs associated with clean fuel mean air fares are likely to rise out of reach of the masses. The Australian flag carrier boss made her comments after Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that the price of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) may never match that of traditional kerosene. Net zero will add a “green premium” to plane tickets and reverse the decades-long trend of flying getting cheaper over time, he said. In reporting the story, the Telegraph notes that the UK has issued a mandate for carriers to use at least 10% SAF by 2030, one of the most stringent requirements in the world. The EU target by the same year is 6%.

Sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Singapore and the Canadian pension fund CPPIB are in talks to take stakes in IFS, a London-based software company which is positioning itself in the vanguard of industrial AI and is now valued at €15bn, Sky News reports.

And finally…John Allan, the former chairman of Tesco, has said young unemployed people should be forced to enrol inNational Serviceor face losing their benefits. The Government should exercise a “bit of coercion” to get young people into the workforce, given how the number of people aged between 16 and 24 who are not ineducation, employment or training (Neet)has soared to 13.4%.“I think getting people into the habit of getting out of bed in the morning, going and doing some useful work is very habit-forming once people have done it for a while,” Allan toldTimes Radio, adding: “Or we could reintroduce military training for people who are not working. That would be a way of actually helping us with, you know, stepping up our defence capability as well, which is another important issue.” He maintained that Neets were no “less prepared to work, provided they’re given the training and given the opportunities”.

^[1] APP is Authorised Push Payment fraud, which involves criminals scamming people into transferring money to them. This kind of fraud originates online, with 16% starting on telecommunications networks.

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