Austerity is still austerity, even under a Labour government | William Keegan

The chancellor should be flushed with victory. Instead, she is adhering to an opposition dogma that undermines her own objectives

The lady doth protest too much, methinks." This quotation from Hamlet keeps coming back to me every time Chancellor Rachel Reeves blames the last government for the economic inheritance and austerity measures she claims have been thrust upon her. The truth is that she often made it plain before the election that she expected a terrible inheritance; if there were some secrets she did not know about - well, that should not have surprised a politician.

They have certainly been thrust upon the rest of us, not least the many pensioners who, while not qualifying for the revised, means-tested winter fuel payment, will struggle with heating bills that are much higher than when Gordon Brown, as chancellor, introduced the allowance all those years ago.