Free school breakfast clubs from April but winter fuel cuts to remain, says Reeves

Rachel Reeves has announced that hundreds of schools will host free breakfast clubs from April as she doubled down on her controversial decision to abolish winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

- KATE DEVLIN

The chancellor said the move would ease child poverty, after accusations she would force some less well-off pensioners to choose between heating and eating. Ms Reeves has warned of more difficult choices ahead before next month’s Budget, but it is understood ministers will not scrap the council tax discount claimed by single people.

In her speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool, Ms Reeves said not every choice she took in government would be popular with her party and beyond.

But she pledged: “I will not duck those decisions, not for political expediency, not for personal advantage.” She added: “I will judge my time in office a success if I know that at the end of it, there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds who lead richer lives, their horizons expanded, and able to achieve and thrive in Britain today.”