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Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy.

Thanks for downloading the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Wednesday the 26th of March, the Chancellor set out her spring statement

and announced a boost to defence spending and a squeeze on welfare.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her supporters wanted to paint a positive picture of how

the government was steering the country through tough economic times.

To a chorus of backing from the Labour benches, she summed up the changes ministers were making.

The minimum wage up, real wages up, house building up, NHS investment up, investment in our schools, up, investment in our roads,

up defence spending up, every single one of those policies opposed by the party opposite.

On the Conservative side, the shadow Chancellor Mel Stride had his own backing group,

insisting the government was letting people down.

She is the Chancellor who said she would not increase borrowing, but she did.

She said she wouldn't change her fiscal rules, but she did.

She said she wouldn't put up national insurance, but she did.

She said she wouldn't cut winter fuel payment, but she did. She said she wouldn't tax farmers, but she did. She said she wouldn't cut winter fuel payment, but she did. She said she wouldn't tax farmers, but she did. And she said she would not move to more than one fiscal

event a year, and she just has. Well, the chant along came as Rachel Reeves set out her

spring statement. Higher than expected borrowing and lower than

hoped for growth had Rachel Reeves on track to break the rule she set herself on debt and

investment. So this was her plan to fill the £5 billion shortfall. A reduction to the UK's

rising welfare bill had already been announced, but Rachel Reeves gave more detail, telling MPs

part of the benefit universal credit would be cut and frozen.

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