Katy Balls Katy Balls

Can Reeves avoid further tax rises?

Rachel Reeves's Spring Statement has had a lukewarm reception (Getty images)

Rachel Reeves wakes to a swathe of tricky front pages this morning after the Spring Statement in which the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) slashed next year’s growth forecasts. The Chancellor also announced extra welfare cuts in order to meet her fiscal rules. The verdict on the statement isn’t exactly positive, with Reeves facing criticism from both left and right. The Daily Mail brands Reeves ‘deluded’ and the Daily Telegraph warns of ‘five years of record taxes’. The Guardian splashes with ‘Reeves accused of balancing books at expense of the poor’ while the Financial Times says ‘Tax rise fears cloud Reeves’s fiscal fix’.

Reeves could take some small comfort from the fact the OBR scored her planning reforms highly (listen

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