Chancellor Rachel Reeves opened her spring statement saying she was “proud” of what the Government has delivered since the election.

She told MPs: “This Labour government was elected to bring change to our country. To provide security for working people and to deliver a decade of national renewal. That work of change began in July – and I am proud of what we have delivered in just nine months.

“Restoring stability to our public finance, giving the Bank of England the foundation to cut interest rate three times since the general election. Rebuilding our public services with record investment in our NHS bringing waiting lists down for five months in a row and increasing the National Living Wage to give three million people a pay rise from next week.

“Now our task is to secure Britain’s future in a world that is changing before our eyes.”

Rachel Reeves has emphasised the turbulence faced by the global economy, setting the scene for sweeping cuts across government departments and further welfare cuts.

“Our task is to secure Britain’s future in a world that is changing before our eyes”, the chancellor told the Commons.

“The threat facing our continent was transformed when Putin invade Ukraine. It has since escalated further and continued to evolve rapidly.

“At the same time, the global economy is becoming more uncertain, bringing insecurity at home as trading patterns become more unstable and borrowing costs rise for many major economies.”

Even before the chancellor gets to her feet to give her spring statement, her strategy has been attacked by a leading economic thinktank in the UK.

Ben Caswell, senior economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said: “At a time when clarity and consistency are crucial, the upcoming Spring Statement seems set to focus on meeting the increasingly complex and arbitrary fiscal rules, rather than promoting a long-term fiscal strategy for growth.

“These rules do not guarantee fiscal sustainability in an arithmetic sense, but they do create real incentive for chasing short term forecasts instead of focusing on long term economic objectives.”

We are going to be hearing a lot about the arbitrary rules which are tying the chancellor’s hands if things continue to get worse.

Rachel Reeves is delivering her spring statement to MPs in the House of Commons.

The chancellor is expected to announce major cuts and further slash the welfare bill.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said “we need to ensure that all schools” tackle mobile phone use.

At the despatch box, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch asked: “If the ban is ‘unnecessary’, then why is it that they started a review? Just last week his Education Secretary (Bridget Phillipson) called a ban a ‘gimmick’, yet teachers and headteachers already say the evidence already shows that schools that ban phones get better results.”

Mrs Badenoch claimed that one in 10 schools are smartphone free and added: “So, will he U-turn on this?”

Sir Keir replied: “We need to ensure that all schools do this – but the vast majority do.”

He added: “It is really important that we focus on the battle we have to have with mobile phones, which is the content that children are able to access.

“We need to ensure that that is controlled wherever they are, so it’s a question of having the right battle on the right issue, not wasting time on something where almost all schools are already banning mobile phones.”

The prime minister has insisted the government is “pushing up standards” in education.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “His own Government evidence says that phones disrupt nearly half of GCSE classes every single day, discipline is the number one issue in many schools.

“Under the Conservatives, schools became twice as likely to be good or outstanding after going through our behaviour programme. So why did the Education Secretary abolish that programme?”

Sir Keir Starmer replied: “She talks about the record of the last government, under their watch a third of children started school without appropriate level development, and that is not being able to use a knife and fork. A quarter left primary school without the required standard of reading, writing and math. One in five was regularly absent.

“That is why we’re pushing up standards, more information from Ofsted, transparency for parents, more interventions where schools need it.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir Starmer “doesn’t care about discipline in schools” and “everything he does is ideological”.

Mrs Badenoch told the Commons: “He’s not answering the question about discipline in schools because he doesn’t care about discipline in schools. Everything he does is ideological and his decisions are costing schools so much.

“The national insurance hike means every state school in the country has to pay more for teachers. The Education Secretary promised to compensate schools in full for the jobs tax. Why hasn’t it happened?”

The prime minister replied: “It was Labour that introduced academies, we pushed up standards and this is not ideological.

“I’m a parent of two teenage children, both of whom go to a state school, so I invested in this and it matters hugely to me, there’s nothing ideological about it. That is why we’re driving up standards as we always have done.”

Labour MPs are speculating that Rachel Reeves could announce reforms to the digital services tax in her spring statement – in a bid to help the UK avoid devastating trade tariffs due to be implemented by Donald Trump next week.

Ministers are looking at the tax – a bug bear of the US President’s “first buddy” Elon Musk, who owns X, formerly Twitter – as part of a potential economic deal with the US.

But the move would be controversial, as the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts the tax could raise as much as £2.8 billion a year for the Exchequer by 2029. Labour backbenchers fear the move could cost the UK billions, but achieve little – especially if Trump tires of Mr Musk, as he has done with previous advisers in the past.