Rachel Reeves warned Labour MPs that leadership ‘chaos’ will crush the economy today.
The Chancellor delivered the stark message as she insisted UK plc has been resilient in the face of the Middle East crisis.
Official figures this morning showed GDP growing by 0.3 per cent in March – the first full month since Donald Trump launch strikes on Iran. That was better than most analysts expected, although slower than February.
Ms Reeves linked the economic picture to the swirling speculation about Keir Starmer’s future this morning, suggesting a challenge could derail progress.
Saying Labour MPs had an ‘important decision to make’, Ms Reeves stressed the risk of ‘plunging the country into chaos at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit’.
‘Now is not the time to put our economic stability at risk. To do so would leave families and business worse off. Instead, this Government is getting on with the job of building an economy that is stronger, more resilient, and prepared for the future,’ she said.
Rachel Reeves delivered the stark message as she insisted UK plc has been resilient in the face of the Middle East crisis
Real GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.6 per cent in Quarter 1 2026
The implied price of GDP increased by 3.5 per cent in Quarter 1 2026 compared with the same quarter a year ago
Real GDP is estimated to have increased by an unrevised 1.4 per cent in 2025
11 out of 14 services subsectors contributed positively to growth in Quarter 1 2026
8 out of 13 manufacturing subsectors contributed positively to growth in Quarter 1 2026
Growth in the latest quarter was driven by gross capital formation: other and household consumption
Excluding non-monetary gold and other precious metals, the trade deficit was 0.9 per cent of nominal GDP in Quarter 1 2026
Growth in nominal GDP was mainly driven by an increase in compensation of employees in Quarter 1 2026
Real GDP per head is estimated to have increased by 0.6 per cent in Quarter 1 2026
GDP increased by 0.6 per cent between January and March, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That was higher than the 0.5 per cent growth that most economists had been expecting, and fastest pace since the first quarter of 2025.
The ONS also said GDP increased by 0.3 per cent in March, surprising economists who were expecting growth to slow following the onset of war in the Middle East.
ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: ‘Growth picked up in the first quarter of the year, led by broad-based increases across the services sector.
‘Within that wholesale, computer programming and advertising performed particularly well.
‘Production also grew slightly, while construction returned to growth, though only partly reversing weakness at the end of last year.’
