Rachel Reeves has scrapped some winter fuel payments, along with a raft of other government programmes and policies to plug a projected government overspend of £22bn.

The chancellor said those not in receipt of pension credit will no longer receive the extra money as she repeatedly told MPs: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

The chancellor also announced that adult social care charging reforms, which had been delated by the previous government, would also not go forward on the new government’s watch, in a move that will save more than £1bn by the end of next year.

In total, all departments have been expected to find savings worth an estimated £3bn, Ms Reeves said, while a number of projects – including Boris Johnson’s programme to build 40 new hospitals and to restore old railway lines – will be reviewed or cancelled.

Follow the latest updates from Westminster here

The chancellor laid blame for her decisions on the previous government, accusing the Conservatives of having “let people down” by making “commitment after commitment without knowing where the money was going to come from”.

“Today I am calling out the Conservatives’ cover up and I am taking the first steps to clean up what they have left behind,” she said.

Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt, sitting opposite Ms Reeves’ in the Commons, immediately refuted her characterisation of the previous government, saying her inheritance statement was “not economic, it’s political”.

“Today, she will fool absolutely no-one with a shameless attempt to lay the grounds for tax rises she didn’t have the courage to tell us about,” he said.

“She says the information is new, but she herself told the Financial Times, ‘you don’t need to win an election to find out the state of public finances as we’ve got the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) now’.”

Mr Hunt quoted economic expert Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, who said said the state of public finances “were apparent pre-election to anyone who cared to look – which is why he and other independent figures say her argument is not credible and won’t wash.”

He added: “She wants to blame the last Conservative government for tax rises and project cancellations she’s been planning all along.”

Ms Reeves said the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for some pensioners was a “difficult” one she did not want to make.

“This level of overspend is not sustainable,” she said.

“Left unchecked, it is a risk to economic stability and, unlike the party opposite, I will never take risks with our country’s economic stability.”

Ms Reeves said that while the government would continue to protect the pension triple lock – the measure to raise state pensions every year by the level of average earnings, inflation or 2.5% – she said those “not in receipt of pension credit or certain other means-tested benefits will no longer receive the winter fuel payment from this year onwards”.

She said the government would however continue to provide winter fuel payments worth £200 to households receiving pension credit or £300 to households in receipt of pension credit with someone over the age of 80.

“Let me be clear, this is not a decision I wanted to make, nor is it the one I expected to make – but these are the necessary and urgent decisions that I must make,” she argued.

Ms Reeves’ statement came after the news that junior doctors had been offered a 22.3% pay rise by the government to end strike action.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

She said she would not repeat the “mistakes” of the Conservatives and would accept the independent pay review recommendations “in full”.

The move will cost an additional £9bn this year.

Over the past few days, ministers have sought to suggest the economy they inherited from the Conservatives was worse than expected, despite the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank warning about the poor state of public finances during the election campaign.

Ms Reeves said her government had “inherited a projected overspend of £22bn”. The measures announced today reduce that figure to £16.4bn, which be addressed in the budget that will take place on 30 October this year and a multi-year spending review.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Among the measures that have been scrapped to save money are several transport projects, including the Stonehenge tunnel on the A303, the A27 Arundel bypass and the Restoring Our Railways scheme.

Reforms to cap social care costs to £100,000 – first presented by Sir Andrew Dilnot to David Cameron more than a decade ago – have finally been axed after years of indecision due to the £1bn cost, which Ms Reeves said were never funded or affordable.

“The inheritance from the previous government is unforgivable,” the chancellor said.

Read more:
If Kemi Badenoch becomes Tory leader, it’ll be a bumpy ride
Emergency ban on puberty blockers by Tory government was lawful, High Court rules

“After the chaos of ‘partygate’, when they knew trust in politics was at an all-time low, they gave false hope to Britain.

“When people were already being hurt by their cost-of-living crisis, they promised solutions that they knew could never be paid for.

“Roads that would never be built. Public transport that would never arrive. Hospitals that would never treat a single patient.

“They spent like there was no tomorrow, because they knew that someone else would pick up the bill and then in the election – and perhaps this is the most shocking part – they campaigned on a platform to do it all over again.”

Related posts:

‘Just answer the question’: Scottish Tory leader demands PM reveals ‘right now’ whether he attended No 10 lockdown drinks Sinn Fein leader admits Northern Ireland Protocol is ‘problematic’ – and expects referendum on unification within next decade The Liz and Rishi roadshow continues but the penultimate hustings lacked spice Truss’s tax cut U-turn will embolden her many critics in the Tory party ‘If you don’t reform the NHS I fear it will die’: Starmer promises overhaul of GP services Tory crime commissioner who triggered police investigations into opponents ‘cannot remain in office’ Rishi Sunak defended for saying no decision made on HS2 – despite filming video days earlier A delay in calling the election the last thing Starmer needs Starmer says it’s ‘nonsense’ to suggest he would duck election TV debates Scotland’s first minister cancels event as he fights for his political future Humza Yousaf is battling for political survival. How did we get here – and what happens next? Was Starmer too distracted with post-election honeymoon to react to IT crisis?