Chief secretary to the treasury Darren Jones says there will be a spring statement on 26 March

Good morning. Keir Starmer faces PMQs today. As he prepares, two issues seem very likely to come up.

First, the economy. There is some modest good news this morning, and Rachel Reeves easily fought off a Tory attempted hit job on her in the Commons yesterday, but the underlying fundamentals are still pretty grim. Here are the key developments this morning.

UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, figures out this morning showed. The consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November, meaning prices rose at a slower rate.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said the government would have to take “tough decisions” to meet its fiscal rules. The rise in government borrowing costs means further spending cuts are likely if the government is to meet its fiscal rules and Jones acknowledged that as he gave interviews this morning. He told BBC Breakfast:

People at home know you can’t just keep borrowing every month to pay the bills.

And where we do borrow to invest in the country’s infrastructure, the debt has to be falling as a size of the economy over the next five years.

Jones said the government will not water down its plans to extend workers’ rights in the employment rights bill. In an interview on the Today programme Jones was asked about an interview on Monday where Rupert Soames, the CBI president, said the proposed changes could lead to firms laying off workers. Asked if the government would rethink the plans, Jones said: “No is the short answer.” He said giving workers more protection would be good for the economy.

Jones has rejected claims the Siddiq affair raises questions about Starmer’s judgment. In an interview with Times Radio, the Treasury minister said:

I don’t think there’s a question about the prime minister’s judgment. The independent process has been followed. It concluded, and Tulip took the decision to step down from government.

Siddiq has been urged to “seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh”. As Sky News reports, responding to Siddiq’s resignation, a spokesperson for a Prof Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, said the former minister “may not have entirely understood the source of the money and property that she was enjoying in London”. The spokesperson added:

She knows now and should seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh …

We remain committed to accountability and justice and will be working with partners around the world to return the stolen funds to the people of Bangladesh.