Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride calls chancellor Rachel Reeves "weak," is he married, do they have children?

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the House of Commons that “In the face of global uncertainty, we beat the forecast last year. In the year ahead, the choices that we are making give me confidence that we will beat them again.

“And in the year ahead, more of the choices that we have already made will come into effect – discounts on business energy costs, trade deals with India, the US and the EU, reforms to back our entrepreneurs, investments in our infrastructure, skills funding for further education and more planning reforms.

“Progress – opposed by the Conservatives, opposed by Reform, opposed by the Liberal Democrats, and opposed by the Green Party too, because it is Labour, and only Labour, that has the right plan for our country.

“Our plan for growth is grounded in a profound rejection of the failed economic dogmas of the past, the trickle-down, trickle-out thinking that produced ever diminishing returns for working people.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also said: “In my second Mais lecture in two weeks’ time, I will set out three major choices that will determine the course of our economy into the future.

“To go further in strengthening our global relationships, breaking down trade barriers and deepening alliances with our European partners for a more secure and connected economy.

“To go further in backing innovation and harnessing the power of AI, so that entrepreneurs and innovators thrive here in Britain and so that working people reap the rewards.

“And to go further in transforming our economic geography, so that we can build growth on a broad and stable basis, spreading opportunity and unlocking opportunity in every part of Britain.”

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has hit back at the spring statement and said: “Is that it? What utter complacency, a Chancellor in denial. She speaks of stability, what planet is (the Chancellor) on?

“She has lurched from putting up taxes to destroying growth, to destroying headroom, to coming back to putting up more taxes, more growth destroyed. Round and round we go, like a fiscal twister ripping up everything in its path.

“As our economy bleeds out, what does (the Chancellor) do? She comes to this house with nothing to say and with no plan, unless of course doing nothing is a cunning plan to avoid those u-turns further down the line.”

Sir Mel Stride also said: “She is weak. She has even stripped the OBR of its ability to assess whether she is meeting her fiscal targets. So, let it be remembered that at this time in this chamber, this weak and chaotic government gave up on the British people.

“She has nothing to say to us today. This is not a spring statement, it is a surrender statement.”

Sir Mel Stride is married to Michelle and the couple share three daughters together.