Chancellor says £22bn gap in current spending budget and state pension rise meant she had to make decision on means-testing fuel payments. Early evening summary 18:20 Rachel Reeves has defended her decisions to cut the winter fuel allowance and abandon infrastructure projects as she argued the decisions taken in the early weeks of the Labour government would pave the way to a more optimistic economic future.

Rachel Reeves became the first woman in British history to address a party conference as chancellor of the exchequer as she sought to move past the incessant gloom of the new Labour government’s recent messaging to carve out a vision of a more optimistic future for Britain.

In her first major speech as Chancellor to Labour conference that was briefly interrupted by hecklers, Rachel Reeves attempted to strike a more optimistic tone after recent gloomy warnings

Rachel Reeves is set to use her first speech at a Labour conference to vow there will be "no return" to austerity under a Labour government. The chancellor is expected to declare that her first budget, due on October 30, will not be an austerity measure, and instead will “rebuild Britain” and deliver the change they promised the electorate.

By Alistair Smout, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves ruled out a "return to austerity" on Monday, trying to brighten the gloomy tone her party has adopted since its landslide election victory in July.

The UK’s new Labour government won’t return to the austerity cuts of its Conservative predecessors, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will promise on Monday, as she pivots toward a more positive narrative after weeks of warning about the dire state of the public finances.