Chancellor revealed this year’s UK growth forecast had been halved forcing tougher cuts than expected to plug fiscal hole

• Spring statement: key points
• Politics live – updates
  

Rachel Reeves blamed “global uncertainty” as she announced swingeing cuts to welfare and other public spending designed to plug a fiscal hole caused by soaring borrowing costs and sluggish economic growth.

The chancellor told the Commons that the UK’s growth forecasts for this year had been halved from 2% to 1% by the Treasury watchdog, which concluded that the chancellor would have missed her goal of balancing the books if she did not act.