Chancellor says £22bn gap in current spending budget and state pension rise meant she had to make decision on means-testing fuel payments. Early evening summary 18:20 Rachel Reeves has defended her decisions to cut the winter fuel allowance and abandon infrastructure projects as she argued the decisions taken in the early weeks of the Labour government would pave the way to a more optimistic economic future.

Labour has ruled out a “return” to the austerity seen in the 2010s, and still felt long after. However, critics inside the party continue to accuse Ms Reeves of just that, arguing that her rhetoric and policies bear an all-too-similar resemblance.

It’s been a bad week for Rachel Reeves – and the British public. We are bracing ourselves to pay more in tax; she is bracing herself to pay for her own wardrobe. And today, in her speech in Liverpool,

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves promised to deliver a UK budget showing “real ambition” next month as she used her speech at the Labour Party’s annual conference to project a positive vision for the country.

By Alistair Smout, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves ruled out a return to economic austerity on Monday, trying to brighten the gloomy tone her party had adopted since its landslide election victory in July.

But the chancellor's conference speech on Monday risks being overshadowed by the row over her decision to axe winter fuel payments.