Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended the government's decision to cut the winter fuel allowance. Roughly 10 million pensioners are set to lose out on the £250 payment as the government restricts the benefit to only those receiving pension credit. "We had to take difficult decisions in very challenging circumstances because the previous government was overspending by £22bn just this year alone so we had to take action to get a grip on the public finances," Ms Reeves said.
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00:00When I became Chancellor of the Exchequer, I inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
00:08Taking no action wasn't an option because that would have made it difficult for the government to finance its needs
00:16and we would have ended up in the same position that the previous Conservative government ended up in
00:22with mortgage rates and interest rates spiking and pensions being put in peril.
00:27So we had to take difficult decisions in very challenging circumstances
00:32because the previous government was overspending by £22 billion just this year alone
00:39and we had to take action to get a grip of the public finances.