Chancellor says £22bn gap in current spending budget and state pension rise meant she had to make decision on means-testing fuel payments.   16:20 In her conference speech Rachel Reeves said she wanted to change the way the Treasury views investment.

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 defended winter fuel cuts as the “right decision” and insisted pensioners most in need will still receive help. In a speech to the Labour conference that was disrupted by hecklers, the Chancellor said she would not “duck” difficult decisions.

The Chancellor was also seeking to lift economic hopes in her speech to Labour’s conference after warning of tough choices ahead

Reeves said: “There will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services – and for investment and growth too. We must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions. But we won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain."

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.