LIVE: Rachel Reeves Announces Change to Winter Fuel Payments

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Rachel Reeves has announced plans to restore winter fuel payments for all pensioners with an income of less than £35,000 in her biggest U-turn since taking office. READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/article/faaacd64-f6bd-4a78-8dcd-553f6c3dfc47 In one of her first acts as chancellor, Reeves stripped ten million people of the benefit, worth between £200 and £300 per year, in an effort to balance the books. The decision was met with widespread criticism from cabinet ministers and backbenchers, and was blamed in part for Labour’s poor performance in the local elections last month. The chancellor announced that the payments will be reinstated for nine million pensioners, with money clawed back from higher income households at the end of the next financial year. The Treasury said that only about two million pensioners would miss out. It is not clear how the government will pay for the move. Ministers admitted the new threshold would cost the government £1.25 billion — wiping out all but £250 million of the planned £1.5 billion worth of savings from restricting the benefit this year. However, the government insisted that even after the U-turn the policy would save £450 million. The Treasury said Reeves would set out how the shortfall will be covered in the autumn budget amid warnings that it would require tax rises in other areas in order for the chancellor to hit her fiscal rules. Ministers said that the cost of the change would not be paid for through additional borrowing. Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.com/ Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=timesonlinevideo Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timesandsundaytimes/ Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetimes Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetimes/ #rachelreeves #uk #london