Chancellor Rachel Reeves will begin a round of meetings with some of Britain’s leading regulators this week to urge them to focus on growth instead of downside risks.

Ms Reeves will attempt to convince markets she has a grip on the economy and is pursuing a pro-business agenda amid scepticism among investors over Labour’s policies.

Over the next two weeks she will meet 16 regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, Ofgem, the Environment Agency and the Financial Conduct Authority who have already been urged by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to say how they would support growth.

Ms Reeves returns to her desk fresh from a trip to China where she unveiled £600 million of agreements and a commitment to deeper cooperation across areas such as financial services, trade, investment.

She came under pressure from opponents to postpone the trip and provide emergency measures after soaring gilt yields sent borrowing costs up. That has left the Chancellor with just £9.9 billion of headroom to stay within her self-imposed fiscal rule – balancing day-to-day government spending by 2029.

The Office of Budget Responsibility will tell her on 26 March whether she has succeeded, but in the meantime she will take comfort from her China agreements which included the granting of new licences and quota allocations for UK firms such as HSBC, Schroders, abrdn and Aspect Capital.

However, despite securing a measure of support for her efforts to boost China-UK trading, pressure to tackle the immediate cost of borrowing burden, which on Thursday rose to its highest in 16 years, is unlikely to go away any time soon.

On Friday, Edinburgh investment house Abrdn said the Chancellor will be forced to hold a spring Budget to rein in spending and settle investors’ nerves.

Bond yields have risen as investors worry about the underlying state of the government’s finances after Ms Reeves lifted taxes by £40 billion in the October budget, including a £25bn rise in employers’ national insurance contributions.

Should the uncertainty and turmoil persist, Ms Reeves’ position will be threatened and there is already talk of her not lasting until the budget this coming autumn.

Among those being talked up as the next Chancellor are Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, though he is also perceived as a successor to Sir Keir who will be wary of promoting a potential rival.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, who was chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, is another potential contender, as is Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister who was shadow chief secretary to the Treasury between 2021 and 2023.