Peace is a long way off in Labour's bitter civil war

It was a disgruntled backbencher who summed up the mood in Labour ahead of today’s spending review announcement by Rachel Reeves.

- DAVID MADDOX

“You don’t become a Labour MP to make cuts,” the MP said, looking at the prospect of at least £5bn needing to be slashed across government departments – including housing, local government and policing – to fulfil the chancellor’s spending plans.

The billions of pounds of necessary savings, estimated by the House of Commons Library, was a calculation made before the chancellor committed herself to another £1.25bn of spending a year by restoring the winter fuel payments to 9 million pensioners.

When the chancellor gets to her feet after Prime Minister’s Questions today, she will no doubt be cheered by the Labour MPs behind her. But the reality is that much of the applause will be performative rather than heartfelt.

The truth is that senior members of the government – and the wider party – are now openly at war with Keir Starmer and Reeves over economic policy. In their eyes, Reeves will effectively confirm “austerity 2.0” in her spending review, but will not have delivered the boost to growth that she promised. Labour will be in the worst of all worlds.