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Louise Thomas
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Watch as Rachel Reeves and treasury ministers answer questions in parliament a week after Sir Keir Starmer said the upcoming October Budget “would be painful”.
The chancellor will be speaking amid facing backlash from her own party and fresh Tory attacks over the decision to strip the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners.
Only those receiving pension credit or other means-tested benefits will be eligible for the payment in England and Wales as a result of the government’s decision, which ministers have said is needed to help fill a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
Sir Keir has defended the move, which is intended to save around £1.5 billion this year.
“I don’t want to cut the winter fuel allowance … but we’ve got to fix the foundations of our economy and that’s what this is all about – making sure that we fix the foundations and then, having done that, that we can build a better future that pensioners and so many other people voted for in this election,” he said.
