Treasury deputy insists Labour had no thoughts of cutting winter fuel allowance before election

Labour had not set out plans to cut winter fuel payments when they were in opposition, a senior Treasury official has said.

It comes after Rachel Reeves announced that the government would axe axing winter fuel payments for many pensioners in a bid to help plug a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

Following her speech, the chancellor doubled down on accusations that Jeremy Hunt “lied” to the public and to MPs during the election campaign about the state of public finances.

"We did not work on this policy in opposition," Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones MP told Newsnight on Monday, 29 July.