Rachel Reeves lambasted over Winter Fuel U-turn in blistering rant by top Tory: 'Who does she think she's fooling?!'

"We said it was the wrong thing to do, and we've been campaigning for them to have a rethink and sort that out."

However, she rejected the Chancellor's reasoning for the policy change: "But the suggestion that Rachel Reeves made, that it's because they've got the grip on the economy now, is just for the birds. I mean, who does she think she is fooling?"

Whately pointed to deteriorating economic indicators since Labour took office: "On every single economic metric, things are looking worse than when Labour got into Government," she stated.

She outlined specific concerns, claiming that "inflation is higher, growth forecasts have come down, unemployment is up, and borrowing is up".

Whately fumed: "So many things are going in the wrong direction, there's simply nothing to say that things are going well. They're going in the wrong direction."

The Shadow Secretary also highlighted rising long-term borrowing costs as further evidence of economic decline.

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She stated: "Long-term borrowing costs are going up so everything is going in the wrong direction. The Chancellor is getting it wrong."

Whately emphasised the human cost of last winter's policy: "But the fact is, it won't make up for last winter, when we saw hundreds of thousands of pensioners struggling through the winter.

"We saw 50,000 more pensioners going to poverty in the Government's own numbers, an extra 100,000 admissions into A&E," she said.

She added that many constituents had contacted her directly about their difficulties. "And many of us have heard from many pensioners themselves saying how much they struggled directly. Actually, it was really tough."

Despite welcoming the reversal, Whately insisted: "This U-turn is the right thing to do, but the Government really should be apologising for what they did last winter."

Whately credited multiple groups for the policy reversal: "Conservatives have been campaigning, Age UK has been campaigning, many of us have been campaigning on it, including some Labour backbenchers who broke ranks," she said.

She explained the Conservative position: "Our consistent position, and Kemi Badenoch herself has been very clear on this, is that we don't think that in the ideal world that millionaires should be receiving in the Winter Fuel Allowance."

However, she maintained that Labour's approach was flawed, concluding: "And what this shows to us is that Labour came into Government without a plan. They're lurching around.

"They did that last year, now they've announced this policy. The fact is, you need to do the hard work in opposition to work out what you're going to do in Government, not just come up with the latest thing to get a headline."