Rachel Reeves has denied being an “austerity Chancellor” after she announced she was scrapping winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners and axing a planned cap on social care costs. 

The Chancellor unveiled a series of moves yesterday to make £5.5 billion in savings this year in order to help fill a £22 billion black hole in the public finances which she claimed the Tories had left the new Government.

She also warned of more pain to come, with tax rises at an autumn Budget on Oct 30 now widely expected. 

It was suggested to Ms Reeves during an interview on Times Radio this morning that she was an “austerity Chancellor” but she rejected the characterisation as she pointed to a pay rise which has just been announced for public sector workers. 

She said: “Yesterday I gave a pay rise to public sector workers worth £9.4 billion… that is not austerity, that is the first real terms pay increase for public sector workers for a decade. 

“This isn’t austerity but it is about making difficult choices to make sure that the sums always add up. 

“I was clear during the general election campaign that I will never make a promise without being able to say where the money is going to come from. I am not going to change that now that I am Chancellor of the Exchequer.” 

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