Rachel Reeves will this Tuesday try to explain why she and Sir Keir Starmer should stay in their jobs. The Chancellor will stand up in the Commons and deliver a “spring statement” intended to reassure the country, Labour MPs and the markets that Britain is on the road back to prosperity.

There is deep fear on the Labour benches that Sir Keir is leading the party towards disaster in the local, Scottish and Welsh elections but Ms Reeves will cast herself as a guarantor of economic stability. The Government has been rocked by the Epstein-Mandelson scandal, but the Chancellor will try to revive optimism among Labour comrades that both the country and the party’s fortunes can improve.

A priority has been avoiding the fevered speculation which preceded the Autumn Budget. The Chancellor is not expected to pose with the iconic red box before making the short journey from the Treasury to the Commons, and the speech outlining the latest official forecasts may last as little as 20 minutes. This will prepare the ground for a big speech on growth, and an effort to push Britain closer towards the EU. An EU summit is now expected in July to make it easier to trade in energy and food and nail down the details of a youth mobility scheme, which could see scores of thousands of young people to come to the UK.

One minister has suggested the March 3 statement will be “very, very boring” and free of gimmicks. Speculation there will be “goodies’ to help with the cost of living has been stamped on. However, the Chancellor is being urged to take action to help victims of Britain’s flatlining economy.

The influential Resolution Foundation warns that “Britain is perilously close to having a million young people not in education, employment or training for the first time in 13 years”. Warning that the Government needs to “act fast” to tackle the “growing problem,” it calls for the planned convergence of the youth minimum wage with the National Living Wage – which means increasing the wages employers must be to younger workers – to be delayed until unemployment starts falling.

Joblessness is at its highest level since 2021, with an unemployment rate of 5.2% recorded in the three months to December.

There are loud calls for help on the high street, with the Association of Convenience Stores urging the Chancellor to “extend business rates support in the Spring Statement to all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses”.

Former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls argued Ms Reeves should not waste her moment in the spotlight, telling the Political Currency podcast: “People desperately want to know: what is the growth plan? How is the cost of living going to be turned round?

“What is the Treasury’s approach to the economy? Political leadership is about using the moments you’ve got to sell your big message and I would be doing this next Tuesday.”

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said that no matter what Ms Reeves says, “people can feel the truth in their pockets”.

He said: “We’re getting poorer under Rachel Reeves and Labour. GDP per person is going backwards, and the Bank of England has downgraded the outlook for this year and next. We know the script Rachel Reeves will read from: everything is under control, there’s nothing to see here. But since Labour took office, borrowing has come in at almost double what was forecast.

“Scratch the surface and their sums simply don’t stack up. There are glaring holes in Labour’s spending plans, including billions for SEND with no clear explanation of where the money comes from. If the Chancellor thinks her approach is working, she’s in denial. The reality is a weak and chaotic government, out of ideas and afraid of tough choices.”

Callum Price of the Institute of Economic Affairs urged Ms Reeves to take action to rescue the economy, saying: “The Chancellor should not waste the opportunity of a fiscal event. The economy does not benefit from uncertainty and multiple changes in direction, but it also doesn’t benefit from an overbearing regulatory burden, a record high tax burden, and ever-increasing public spending. Rachel Reeves should be bold, not scared.

“She should use this opportunity to cut spending, particularly where it is least productive such as neverending welfare increases. She should then taxes, especially those that do inordinate economic damage like stamp duty. This will help turn the economy and the country around, and businesses will forgive her for the change in direction.”