Chancellor faces down would-be rebels ahead of winter fuel payment vote

‘If we show that economic stability is the hallmark of Labour governments, there is no limit to what we can achieve,’ Reeves told Labour MPs. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The chancellor has faced down would-be rebels in a private meeting of Labour MPs ahead of the crunch vote on the government’s controversial plan to scrap the winter fuel allowance.

Rachel Reeves told a gathering of the parliamentary Labour party that the move was necessary, despite fears about the impact on millions of less-well-off pensioners, as it would help to plug a £22bn gap in the public finances.