Reform level with Labour in new poll as Treasury responds to gloomy economy update: Politics live

Sir Keir Starmer will not be moderating his language about Liz Truss’s record in office, Downing Street has suggested, after lawyers representing her sent the Prime Minister a letter asking him to stop saying she crashed the economy.

Asked whether the Prime Minister stands by his assertion that the former premier tanked the economy, his official spokesman said: “There’s only so much I can talk about previous administrations, but you’ve got the Prime Minister’s language which he absolutely stands by in relation to the previous government’s record, and you don’t have to take it from the Prime Minister.

“I think you can ask people up and down the country what the impact of previous economic management was on their mortgages, on inflation, and I think you’ll get similar answers.

“But what we’re focused on now is the decisions this Government needs to take to ensure that we tackle the long-standing underlying weaknesses in the UK economy that you know have obviously been around for many years – low productivity, low growth – because ultimately they are the fundamental reasons why wages have been low over recent years and… the Government’s number one mission (is) to deliver growth and deliver higher living standards for working people.

Asked whether Sir Keir had plans to moderate his language, he said: “No.”

A stunning poll by FindOutNowUK has put Reform level pegging with Labour on 25per cent and the Tories five points behind on 20 per cent.

According to the calculations if the result was repeated in a general election Labour would lose 173 seats but remain the largest party on 238. Reform would leap into second place from their current 5 to 170, taking deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel’s seats.

The Tories would be left with just 89 seats and a viable government could only be formed with a deal between Labour and the Lib Dems on 70 seats and SNP on 42.

Reform chairman Zia Yusuf said: “Wow, Reform set to win almost twice as many seats as the Tories based on the latest poll!”

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the Chancellor to cancel her trip to China and instead make an emergency fiscal statement to Parliament cancelling the national insurance hike planned for April, to boost economic growth and bring interest rates down.

Mr Davey said: “Instead of jetting off to China, the Chancellor should urgently come before the House of Commons to cancel her counterproductive jobs tax and set out a real plan for growth.

“The country is paying an ever-higher price for the total mess the Conservative Party made of our economy, and the Chancellor needs to realise that she’ll never dig us out of this hole without a far more ambitious plan to grow our economy, including rebuilding trade with Europe.

“The Government’s misguided jobs tax is hurting businesses and hitting investment badly, meaning it will hold back growth while failing to raise the funding the Chancellor claims for the NHS.

“The Chancellor should look instead at our plans to raise revenue without hitting jobs and growth, by raising taxes on the profits of the big banks, social media giants and online gambling firms – all of which are making eye-watering profits while ordinary families struggle.”

Our Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin reports:

A Conservative former minister has accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of having “fled to China”, as MPs grilled the Government on its fiscal plans.

In the Commons, Dame Harriett Baldwin said: “In yesterday’s extraordinary emergency statement from the Treasury to try and calm the markets the Treasury statement paid tribute to the fact it inherited the second lowest debt in the G7.

“And is the reason that the frontbench is so empty today, the Chancellor has fled to China, that she has realised that her budget means that she now is the arsonist?”

Treasury minister Darren Jones replied: “The Chancellor is going on her trip to China, it has been well documented for many weeks, an important visit in terms of trade and investment in the economy here in the UK.

“And might I just say there was no emergency statement, or emergency intervention, these are make-belief words being propagated by members on the benches opposite. The Treasury responded to requests from journalists about headroom, as we might do in the normal way.”

Senior Conservative MPs have pressed the Government on whether the Chancellor will increase taxes or borrowing.

In the Commons, former Treasury minister John Glen said: “This Government have either got to cut spending, increase taxes or borrow mor, and if the cost of borrowing is increasing, that moment is going to come sooner. Which of those choice is he inclined to make and when is he going to tell the British people honestly what this Government has done?”

Treasury minister Darren Jones replied: “The fiscal rules are non-negotiable, public services will have to live within their means, we’ve set the budget.”

“We have the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecast coming in March, those are the numbers departments are working to in this spending review, those are the numbers we will hold public services to when we conclude the spending review in June,” he added.

Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh asked if Chancellor Rachel Reeves would be using her “sticky fingers” to increase borrowing or taxes, adding: “Will the minister give an absolute assurance, no more tax increases or borrowing?”

Mr Jones said the spending review is “on the basis of the envelope that was set at the budget”, adding: “The OBR forecast will come in March which will then give us the latest set of information which we will work to with departments.”

Our Social Affairs Correspondent Holly Bancroft reports:

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said that president-elect Donald Trump is “simply right” to say that Europe needs to do more on defence.

In a speech on Thursday morning, Mr Lammy said: “Donald Trump and JD Vance are simply right when they say that Europe needs to do more to defend its own continent.

“It’s myopia to pretend otherwise with Russia on the march. So this Government will lay out a clear pathway to reaching 2.5% of our GDP on defence.

“A figure, lest we forget that the last Labour government met and was never met by the Tories since David Cameron’s cuts. And with John Healey, we will lead and we will change, to convince all of our Nato allies that rising defence spending is a strategic necessity.”