Welfare cuts confirmed as UK chancellor gives Spring Statement – updates

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed welfare cuts in her Spring Statement. The chancellor has announced the universal credit help element will be cut by "around" 50% and then frozen as she laid out a raft of changes.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons Ms Reeves said:

Referencing the changes announced by DWP minister Liz Kendall last week Ms Reeves says her part is the "party of work" and "if you can work you should work but if you can't you should be properly supported". She says the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates the package of welfare changes will save £4.8bn. She said £1bn will be invested in personalised help to get people back into work and £400m to DWP and Jobcentres to "deliver these changes". For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

Ms Reeves said Labour was taking the "right decisions". She said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has increased their growth forecast "this year and every single year after". She said working people are "still feeling the pinch" of the impact of the Conservative government but said she was "pleased" that real household income will now, according to the OBR, grow at "twice the rate expected in the autumn". She said compared to the final Tory budget in office "the OBR say today people will be, on average, £500 a year better off under this Labour government" and added: "That will mean more money in the pockets of working people, higher living standards, promised by this Labour government, delivered by this government and opposed by the [Conservatives]."

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