UK politics live: Fresh blow for Reeves as borrowing rises to £10.7bn ahead of spring statement

Rachel Reeves will soon give an update on her plans for the UK economy as she prepares to make the first Spring Statement of the new Labour government. The chancellor will also speak to an economic forecast as part of the event, with many predicting further spending cuts to come as the Treasury seeks to tackle ailing growth.

Ms Reeves will be delivering the statement on Wednesday 26 March. She had previously committed to one major economic event a year – the Budget – which usually comes in the Autumn. This is to "give families and businesses stability and certainty on tax and spending changes," she says.

This means there a no major policy announcements expected as part of the statement, although some have predicted that reduced spending targets and some key tax changes will be revealed.

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After a week of frenetic activity on the war front, there has been a welcome return to peace – if only the idea of it. High-level meetings in London and Brussels have served to clarify a few basics.

Military leaders met behind closed doors in London for what was billed as operational planning for Sir Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing”. EU leaders, meanwhile, thrashed out preparations for closer defence cooperation and the eventuality, however distant, of peace in Ukraine; Volodymyr Zelensky reported from Norway on his recent “friendly” phone call with Donald Trump.

With much of the recent action happening between Washington and Moscow, and with diplomatic meetings taking place in Saudi Arabia, it has been all too possible to neglect the role that could and should be played by Europe and the Europeans. Here was an illustration of why they matter.

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Downing Street would not say whether it is confident Heathrow Airport will be fully reopened by Saturday.

Asked whether this would be the case, a No 10 spokesman said: “Well, it’s clearly a fast-moving situation.”

He added: “The fire is still burning and I’m aware that the airport has announced a complete closure until midnight tonight as a result of the situation.

“It will be for emergency services and Heathrow to update on timescales for when this situation will be resolved. We do expect there will be significant direct disruption in the hours and days ahead.”

There was a “cross-government call” on Friday morning to deal with the immediate aftermath of the fire, the spokesman said.

He added: “The Department for Transport is working closely with Heathrow Airport, Nats (National Air Traffic Services) and all key operators to understand the situation and ensure a quick resolution so that the airport can reopen and flights resume as quickly as possible, and clearly we will do everything we can to support those affected and get things moving again.”

The closure of Heathrow due to a fire at an electrical substation has made the airport look “vulnerable”, the Energy Secretary has said.

Europe’s busiest airport, which is supplied by the North Hyde electrical substation in west London, was impacted by the power outage caused by a fire on Thursday night.

A spokesperson for the airport said they had no choice but to close Heathrow until 11.59pm on Friday, adding that they expect “significant” disruption over the coming days.

London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were still on the scene at Nestles Avenue in Hayes just before 6am with part of a transformer still alight.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said that National Grid told him they had not seen “anything like the scale” of what happened with the “seriousness” of the fire.

“But it makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable and therefore we’ve got to learn lessons, as I say, about not just Heathrow but how we protect our major infrastructure,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Mr Miliband said the fire “appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as the substation itself”.

More than 5,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since the start of the year, figures show.

Some 341 migrants were detected crossing the Channel on Thursday, according to provisional Home Office data.

It means 5,025 arrivals have been recorded since January 1.

This is the earliest point in the year at which the 5,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.

Last year, 5,000 arrivals was passed on March 31.

The cumulative number of arrivals so far in 2025, 5,025, is 24% higher than at this stage in 2024, when the figure stood at 4,043, and 36% higher than at this point in 2023 (3,683).

Ed Miliband has said he is “very confident” the Government will create “hundreds of thousands” of jobs with its green plans, but did not put a figure on how close it is to Labour’s manifesto target of 650,000.

The Energy Secretary said net zero represents “the growth opportunity of the 21st century”, and that the sector grew at a faster rate than the economy as a whole last year.

It comes as Mr Miliband announced the first major project for the publicly-owned Great British Energy.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday morning, he was asked about 650,000 new jobs pledged in the manifesto.

He told the programme: “We’re confident we’re going to provide hundreds of thousands of jobs as a result of our drive to net zero.

“This is the growth opportunity of the 21st century. Turn your back on net zero and you turn your back on business investment, good jobs, innovation for the future, and Britain leading in the key industrial areas of the future.”

Pushed again on the figures, former Labour leader Mr Miliband said: “I’m very confident that we will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the green economy.” He also said he is “confident” the Government will meet its pledges.

One of Labour’s biggest donors has said the party’s push towards clean power will be “undermined” if it fails to slash energy bills by the next election.

Dale Vince, founder of energy firm Ecotricity, told the PA news agency: “They came in promising to cut bills, the whole promise of energy independence is to get bills down and keep them there.”

He added that if bills do not fall “it undermines the whole case for the green transition in many ways, because the thing that the average person cares about is the cost of living and how to pay energy bills”.

Mr Vince has given more than £5 million to Labour and he was the party’s biggest corporate donor at the last election.

Labour has promised to reduce bills by £300 a year by 2030, and is aiming to decarbonise the power grid by the same time.

Stanley Tucci, Brian Cox and Sir Stephen Fry have piled pressure on the government to U-turn on controversial welfare cuts.

The celebrities have branded the cuts, which will see around a million people lose their disability benefits, “shameful” and warned they have left those affected fearful for the future.

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that the current system is “morally and economically indefensible”, with the government estimating its measures will save more than £5bn a year by the end of the decade.

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Suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe said Nigel Farage “must never become prime minister” after the party leader allegedly called his behaviour “disgusting” and “contemptible” in leaked private messages.

Mr Farage accused Mr Lowe of “damaging the party just before elections” in a WhatsApp conversation with a member of the Great Yarmouth MP’s staff, the BBC reported.

It comes as new polling suggests the fallout from the Great Yarmouth MP’s ousting is now hurting Reform. The weekly Techne UK tracker poll revealing the Tories level with Reform on 23 per cent each for the first time in two months.

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Commenting on official figures showing Government borrowing topped forecasts last month, Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We must go further and faster to create an agile and productive state that works for people.

“That’s why we’re refocusing the public sector on our missions and, for the first time in 17 years, going through every penny of taxpayer money line by line, to make sure it is helping us secure Britain’s future through the plan for change.

“At the core of this urgent mission is sound public finances, based on our non-negotiable fiscal rules.

“This Government will never play fast and loose with the public finances.”