'Option A' Reeves went for Treasury go-to policy but will she seek way out?

It is often said there is nothing new in politics. And for old hands in Whitehall, there is little surprise that the Treasury's sights are set on the winter fuel allowance.

- Jessica Elgot

The difference this time is that the arguments about the merits of means-testing the winter fuel allowance are playing out on the front pages of national newspapers and among jittery Labour MPs who face a crunch vote today.

Those arguments happen every year - but they previously took place behind closed doors in the Treasury. The allowance has been offered up to multiple Tory chancellors, who have all rejected cutting it to save money.

Treasury insiders say that on this occasion, Rachel Reeves, in her first week on the job, was presented with details of the hole in the public finances, and a series of options to plug the gap, which included £1.5bn from means-testing the winter fuel allowance.

It is a well-rehearsed routine. One former Treasury chief secretary recounts how officials would present him with a list of options for savings and clearly steer him towards their preference for where the axe would fall. "They'd say 'here's option A' and when you asked for an option B or even C there would be lots of head shaking and muttering and you'd have to really push them," they said.