Chancellor Rachel Reeves should use today’s Spring Statement to shift towards a left-wing agenda with more taxes on the wealthy and higher spending on public services, the head of a union has said.
Following Labour’s bruising by-election loss to the Green Party last week, the Government has faced calls from some of its MPs to lurch to the left in some policy areas to avoid losing votes to progressive parties.
General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Steve Wright, has become the latest to urge ministers to move towards a more radical tax and spend approach.
He warned cost pressures on fire services could lead to closures unless Reeves “urgently changes direction” and called for a tax on “extreme wealth” to invest in frontline services.
Wright told The i Paper Reeves should push ahead in increasing the national minimum wage, calling for it to rise to at least £15 per hour for all workers.
Reeves will deliver her Spring Statement in the Commons this afternoon.
Follow The i Paper’s live blog for the latest updates.
Analysis: Reeves has done her best to make the Spring Statement a non-event Reeves urged to shift towards the left in Spring Statement Sort: Newest first Oldest first March 3, 2026 7:26 amAnalysis: Reeves has done her best to make the Spring Statement a non-event
Hugo GyePolitical EditorRachel Reeves has done her best to make sure that today’s Spring Statement is a non-event.
She has been helped by the global drama: against the backdrop of the war in Iran, anything the Chancellor says is likely to be very much overshadowed.
Unlike spring statements of years gone by, this will not be a full-blown fiscal event with changes to tax and spending policy.
In fact, the Treasury is planning to publish nothing at all – the only document will the updated forecast on the economy and public finances from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Since the last Budget came so late in the year, on 26 November, there has not been much time for that forecast to move around. Independent economists estimate that the Chancellor’s all-important “headroom” – the amount of extra borrowing she could take on without breaking the fiscal rules – will have gone up or down by only a couple of billion pounds from its previous level of £22bn.
But there are some key things to look out for. The OBR is likely to weigh in on the question of whether the Government’s immigration curbs risk harming the economy in the upcoming years, an unfortunate clash between two of Labour’s main priorities.
And Reeves is also likely to signal her rejection of pleas for a decisive move to the left, in light of recent political troubles – while also highlighted the array of progressive policies already on offer from the Treasury.
It is an important moment to take stock of the Government’s drive to boost the economy while controlling the public finances, but is unlikely to be a game-changer.
March 3, 2026 7:23 amReeves urged to shift towards the left in Spring Statement
Chloe ChaplainSenior Political CorrespondentChancellor Rachel Reeves should use Tuesday’s Spring Statement to shift towards a left-wing agenda with more taxes on the wealthy and higher spending on public services, the head of a union has said.
Following Labour’s bruising by-election loss to the Green Party last week, the government has faced calls from some of its MPs to lurch to the left in some policy areas to avoid losing votes to progressive parties.
General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Steve Wright, has become the latest to urge ministers to move towards a more radical tax and spend approach.
He warned cost pressures on fire services could lead to closures unless Reeves “urgently changes direction” and called for a tax on “extreme wealth” to invest in frontline services.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves poses on the doorstep of 11 Downing Street with her ministerial red box in November (Photo: AP)Wright told The i Paper Reeves should push ahead in increasing the national minimum wage, calling for it to rise to at least £15 per hour for all workers.
The government has been slowly increasing the national minimum wage – which will rise to £10.85 per hour for 18 to 20-year-olds and £12.71 for over 21s from next month – and has promised to close the gap so all adults earn the same.
But the Chancellor is now understood to be looking to delay the planned increase for younger adults by increasing it at a slower rate, due to concerns the sharp rise has fuelled already-high levels of youth unemployment.
Latest reports, in the Financial Times, suggest it could simply be delayed until “the 2030s” rather than meeting the target at the end of this parliament, in 2029.
“The Chancellor must use the Spring Statement to decisively break with austerity once and for all,” Wright said.
“There can be no more excuses in the wake of last week’s disastrous by-election defeat. Rachel Reeves must act on the wake-up call our party received in Gorton and Denton.”
He added: “A failure to change direction and adopt this approach could mean this is the Chancellor’s last Budget, in the event of any Labour leadership change.”
Sir Keir Starmer issues a statement at 10 Downing Street (Photo: PA)Tuesday’s statement is not a Budget and will not include any fiscal announcements from the Chancellor.
Instead, it is expected to be a low-key affair with Reeves updating Parliament on economic and spending data.
Despite efforts from the Treasury to use the Spring Statement to highlight economic progress made by the government, the conflict in the Middle East and subsequent uncertainty threatens to put renewed pressure on the Chancellor.
And that comes on top of a backdrop of a sluggish growth outlook and higher unemployment.
Figures released last week showed a continued rise in the number of young people not in employment, education or training increased – which is reaching ever closer to one million.
Allies of Reeves briefed The Sun that she wanted to use relative stability to introduce tax cuts before the next election – in contrast to the tax rises she has announced so far during her time in No 11.
March 3, 2026 7:15 amGood morning – and welcome back
Welcome back to The i Paper’s politics blog on Tuesday, 3 March.
After a brief pause due to events in the Middle East over the weekend, we’re back reporting from Westminster today as the Chancellor prepares to deliver her Spring Statement.
This will be an update on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast on the health of the economy and public finances.
Rachel Reeves (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)Reeves is expected to say the economy is “stronger and more secure” as a result of decisions taken by the Government as she addresses the Commons.
She will point to falling inflation and interest rates cuts as successes which have resulted in an easing of living pressures.
“This Government has the right economic plan for our country… in a world that has become yet more uncertain,” she will say.
“Stability in the public finances, investment in infrastructure and reform to our economy.
“Building growth not on the contribution of a few people or a few parts of the country, but in every part of Britain with a state that doesn’t stand back, but steps up.”
We’ll have updates throughout the day.
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