Ed Balls steels himself for spending review battle

Ed Balls has had plenty of warning about how politically dangerous this month’s spending review will be for him. James reported in April that George Osborne planned to use the settlement (when he eventually gets it) to prod the Labour party. But perhaps it’s also the party’s inability to make polling hay from the Tories in crisis over the past month that has provoked not one but two big policy speeches from the Labour leadership this week.

The concession that Balls will give in today’s speech about universal benefits no longer being automatically justifiable has attracted the most attention. The Shadow Chancellor is expected to say:

‘When our NHS and social care system is under such pressure, can it really remain a priority to pay the winter fuel allowance – a vital support for middle and low income pensioners – to the richest 5 per cent of pensioners, those with incomes high enough to pay the higher or top rates of tax?

‘Labour believes the winter fuel allowance provides vital support for pensioners on middle and low incomes to combat fuel poverty.