Rachel Reeves has announced that she will deliver a spring statement on 3 March which will provide an update on the economy and the public finances.

She has asked the independent budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), to “prepare an economic and fiscal forecast” for publication on the same day.

But there will be no assessment of the government’s performance against the fiscal mandate as the Treasury has committed to delivering only one major fiscal event a year, at the autumn budget.

Analysts, however, expect more than a progress report, particularly as the last spring statement include welfare cuts, extra money for construction training and defence, and a crackdown on tax avoidance.

There are also elections in May, notably in Scotland where the Scottish Labour Party will be looking for significant support from the Treasury.

In her November budget the Chancellor said her actions would shave 0.5 percentage points from inflation but economists and businesses will be looking for a pick up in economic activity.

She was forced to deny misleading the public over the state of the public finances and said she had been “upfront” about her decision-making.

Scottish confidence falls, says survey

Business confidence in Scotland fell 15 points during December to 36%, despite a 5 points rise to 47% across the UK, according to the latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland. 

Companies in Scotland reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 24 points at 38%.

Looking ahead to the next six months, Scottish businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team, for example through training (50%), introducing new technology, such as AI or automation (34), entering new markets (30%) and investing in sustainability (30%).

The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.