UK politics live: Wes Streeting hints budget cuts will go further than axing winter fuel payment
The Tory leadership contender has drawn criticism for her comments
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Health secretary Wes Streeting has suggested pensioners will not be the only group negatively affected by cuts in the October budget.
Mr Streeting said he can understand why pensioners may feel they are being targeted by the government following cuts to winter fuel payments. However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there will be moves to reduce the size of the welfare bill, as well as public spending cuts and tax rises.
In an interview with The New Statesman, the health secretary said: “I can understand why there will be some pensioners sat there thinking, ‘Why us? And what about others?
“Well, there are other choices to come and these aren’t just Rachel’s [Reeves] choices to face up to, these are the choices of the whole government.”
He added: “It would be quite jarring if we were all skipping around Whitehall singing Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come or D:Ream’s Things Can Only Better at the same as we’re dealing with a £22 billion black hole and making some tough choices which are really sticking in the throats of people, particularly on the winter fuel allowance.”
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Wes Streeting has said he can understand why pensioners may feel they are being targeted by the government following cuts to winter fuel payments.
In an interview with the New Statesman, the health secretary said: “I can understand why there will be some pensioners sat there thinking, ‘Well, why us? And what about others?’ Well, there are other choices to come and these aren’t just Rachel’s choices to face up to, these are the choices of the whole government.”
Labour is facing growing pressure over its planned winter fuel payment cuts as figures emerged showing almost 800,000 pensioners who need the benefit are set to lose out.
Read more here.
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Rachel Reeves commits to improving women’s lives by closing gender pay gap
Rachel Reeves has said she intends to use her position as the first female Chancellor to “improve life for women”, as she set out plans to support women in business.
Ms Reeves said it is a “huge responsibility” to head the Treasury and she is aiming to close the gender pay gap, strengthen rights at work and invest in childcare.
Announcing the Government’s support for the Invest in Women Taskforce, which aims to increase investment funding pools for female founders, the Chancellor vowed to improve the economic opportunities available to women.
The taskforce is aiming to create a funding pool of more than £250 million for female-founded businesses through private capital, making it one of the world’s largest investment funding pools aimed solely at female founders.
The Rose Review, an independent review of female entrepreneurship led by Dame Alison Rose, found that if the UK were to have the same share of female entrepreneurs as similar countries, £200 billion of value would be added to the economy.
Ms Reeves is expected to take an active role in steering the taskforce’s priorities and objectives.
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Teachers will be allowed to work from home in Labour plan to boost recruitment
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The meeting is the latest in a series of discussions with unions and businesses on employment rights, with further such meetings expected over the coming weeks.
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There are around one million people across the UK on zero-hour contracts, according to the Office of National Statistics.
You can read more on the government’s “new deal for workers” here.
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