Rachel Reeves decision to cut winter fuel benefits for many pensioners reflects a long strand of Labour thinking, tied into Treasury orthodoxy, going back to Labour’s first Chancellor Philip Snowden in 1924.
Faced with the issue of alleviating unemployment Snowden rejected public works schemes unless they could be shown to be a sound investment. He argued that the ‘more positive the remedy the slower the effect’.
Fortunately in the several Labour Governments between 1924 and 2024 such Treasury inspired thinking was not always the preferred policy.
Who do you think were the best Labour chancellors?
Probably Stafford Cripps in the late 1940s but there are no easy choices just least bad ones