Rachel Reeves is axing winder fuel payments for pensioners not on benefits as part of sweeping reforms which she claimed where needed to fill a £22 billion black hole in Britain’s public finances.She also announced that the Budget would be on October 30 and would involve “difficult decisions” on tax, spending and welfare.
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00:00Today, I am calling out the Conservatives' cover-up, and I am taking the first steps
00:05to clean up what they have left behind. But the scale of the inheritance we have been
00:10left means the decisions we have so far announced will not be enough. This level of overspend
00:16is not sustainable. Left unchecked, it is a risk to economic stability. And unlike the
00:22party opposite, I will never take risks with our country's economic stability.
00:28So it therefore falls to us to take the difficult decisions now to make further in-year savings.
00:36The scale of the situation we are dealing with means incredibly tough choices. I repeat
00:41today the commitment that we made in our manifesto to protect the triple lock. But today I am
00:46making the difficult decision that those not in receipt of pension credit or certain other
00:50means-tested benefits will no longer receive the winter fuel payment from this year onwards.
00:57The Government will continue to provide winter fuel payments worth £200 to households receiving
01:02pension credit, or £300 to households in receipt of pension credit with someone over
01:08the age of 80. Let me be clear, this is not a decision I wanted to make. Nor is it the
01:16one that I expected to make. But these are the necessary and urgent decisions that I
01:21must make. It is the responsible thing to do to fix the foundations of our economy and
01:27bring back economic stability.