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.

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