Will Rachel Reeves hold her nerve over the winter fuel cut?

Will Rachel Reeves hold her nerve over the winter fuel payment? That’s the suggestion inside government ahead of a Commons vote tomorrow on the proposed cut that will see only pensioners eligible for benefits receive the £300 payment. Already this morning, government sources have had to play down the idea that there could be a change in course after a Home Office minister appeared to imply the plans could be watered down. Addressing MPs on Monday evening at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party, Reeves urged her colleagues to get behind her: ‘There are more difficult decisions to come. I don’t say that because I relish it. I don’t – but it is a reflection of the inheritance that we face’.

However, the party’s wider backers are voicing their concerns over the move. Today union leaders gather in Brighton for the Trade Union Congress, their annual meet. Already Starmer is coming under pressure from the unions to act.