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Rachel Reeves has pledged that the government will recover winter fuel payments to some pensioners later this year, making U-turns earlier than expected.
The Prime Minister has confirmed plans to suspend the original plan to remove £1.5 billion benefits to 100,000 pension recipients. “We’re going to make changes to it,” she said Wednesday. “They will be set up so that pensioners will be paid this winter.”
Reeves also vowed to stick to the workers’ pre-election promises. She vowed not to raise income tax, VAT or employee national insurance fees despite growing speculation that she will be forced to raise taxes as she is on the course to break her borrowing rules.
Prior to next week’s public spending review, Reeves defended her “non-negotiable” fiscal rules and admitted that they needed a tough choice, but insisted that they were flexible enough to allow an additional capital spending of £113 billion.
She was asked if she was ready to break the party’s manifesto pledge not to raise the “three big” taxes paid by workers.
However, Reeves did not answer questions about personal income tax allowances and thresholds (the last one to stick to the plan to end the freeze introduced by the Conservative government from 2028.
The Prime Minister has planned £15.6 billion in spending on regional transport schemes for urban areas, and said he wants to empower the mayor to generate growth across the country.
She used her speech in Rochdale to shift her attention to the subject of intense Cabinet tensions – the subject of intense Cabinet tensions, such as transportation, energy, housing, rail schemes.
Reeves admitted that “not every department will get everything they need next week,” as it paved the way for tough spending reviews on June 11th.
While Secretary of the Interior, Yvette Cooper, is fighting for more police spending, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is trying to get more money from the Treasury for local governments. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is trying to adhere to the Green Energy Scheme.
However, Reeves argued that by sticking to current fiscal rules on spending, she spends £113 billion more than what this Congressional Conservative Party planned, stability and market confidence allow her to borrow for capital investments.
“It’s not a matter of pride for me that we are sticking to fiscal rules,” she said. “It’s about protecting the people who work.”
Many economists believe that rising borrowing costs, slower growth and government retreat in planned welfare savings will force Reeves to raise taxes in the fall budget.
Reeves is trying to move the political narrative that she is primarily on “austerity” policy away from the common idea among left-wing Labour MPs.
Speaking at the Rochdale Bus factory, Reeves said he was already on the train, with more than £190 billion of daily extra spending on Congress compared to the Tory plan.
Reeves has announced its first series of capital projects as it will be confirmed in a spending review focusing on transportation in cities outside of London.
She said the rewrite of the Treasury Department’s “Green Book,” a tool used by officials to measure the value of public projects, would ensure increased investment in traditionally less productive areas, such as the North and Midlands.
She argued that chronically low transport investments have lagged behind European peers in cities in areas such as Birmingham, Newcastle and Liverpool, and said the UK economy “cannot rely on a few places that go before the rest.”
“We will make the biggest investment ever from the UK government in transport links in urban areas and surrounding towns,” she said of £15.6 billion in investments in streetcars, bus infrastructure and local rail upgrades as it is expected to be confirmed next week.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Snack had pledged additional transport spending worth billions of pounds on regional transport following the cancellation of HS2’s Northern Pawn in 2023.
Reeves said the investment is not actually funded and will only become a reality as a result of workers’ spending reviews.
