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