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UK finance minister draws up welfare cuts to balance books, BBC reports
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on March 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on March 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves plans welfare cuts to restore fiscal balance, targeting health benefits amid economic challenges.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister Rachel Reeves is planning several billions of pounds of cuts to welfare spending after her financial headroom was wiped out, and will put her proposals to the official forecaster on Wednesday, the BBC reported.
Reeves will deliver her Spring statement on March 26, but economic headwinds since the October budget mean she will have to find more money in order to meet her fiscal rules.
Savings worth several billion pounds will come from Britain's welfare budget with health-related benefits targeted, the BBC reported, in moves which could be politically painful for the Labour government.
In October, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), Britain's official forecaster, had indicated that Reeves had 9.9 billion pounds of headroom.
The BBC quoted a government insider as saying "clearly the world has changed" since then, with economic data largely turning against Reeves and worries over slowing growth and U.S. tariffs.
"The Office for Budget Responsibility will reflect that changing world in its forecasts later this month and a changing world will be a core feature of the chancellor's response later this month," the insider said.
Her proposed cuts to balance the books will be put to the OBR on Wednesday, the BBC said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)
Rachel Reeves is planning several billion pounds of cuts to welfare spending to balance the budget after her financial headroom was wiped out.
Reeves will deliver her Spring statement on March 26.
Economic data has turned against Reeves, leading to concerns over slowing growth and U.S. tariffs, which have affected her financial headroom.
The Office for Budget Responsibility will update its forecasts to reflect the changing economic conditions later this month.
The proposed cuts will primarily target health-related benefits within Britain's welfare budget.
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