Analysis: Middle East war makes Rachel Reeves' spring statement out of date before she stepped up to despatch box
As Rachel Reeves rose to address the green leather seats of the House of Commons, her spring statement had already been put out of date.
The Chancellor would have known this as she had been preparing over the weekend, as US and Israeli bombs dropped on Iran and the conflict exploded across the wider Middle East.
As has frequently happened to Sir Keir Starmer and his Cabinet ministers, Donald Trump has put their best laid plans to waste.
Ms Reeves had changed her spring fiscal event from a full-blown budget to a short 20-minute response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts on growth, inflation, unemployment and the like.
This was designed to reduce speculation, increase certainty and allow her to fly under the radar with no major negative headlines.
However, the spring statement has been drowned out for all the wrong reasons - the conflict in the Middle East.
The FTSE 100 opened four-and-half-hours before Ms Reeves took to the Commons’ despatch box, and quickly dropped by 2 per cent.
At the same time, the price of crude oil hit a year-long high, as Iran blocked a key trading route.
Ms Reeves came bearing good news in the form of inflation dropping to the Bank of England 2 per cent target next year.
However, by the afternoon, the OBR’s David Miles was warning that this was “particularly uncertain” after the past few days.
“There have been very large increases in gas prices and oil prices,” he said.
“Our central expectation had been that inflation would fall back towards the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target early this year and will be around that level at the end of the year. There must be more uncertainty around that right now.”
Energy prices are currently protected until July by the price cap, however if the instability continues it is likely they will increase.
Mr Trump said that the campaign has been projected to last around five weeks but “could go on longer than that”. Ms Reeves will be hoping that it will be the opposite.