CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves has been urged to "put down the axe" and invest in the economy to deliver growth. 

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said that Reeves is “repeating the Tories’ mistakes” by imposing “damaging austerity cuts”.

Speaking ahead of the Chancellor’s speech to the Labour Party conference today, he urged her to reverse cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment to pensioners which are being withdrawn from millions not in receipt of benefits.

Flynn (below) said: “Rachel Reeves is repeating the Tories’ mistakes by imposing damaging austerity cuts, which will starve the economy of investment and make things worse for families and public services.

“Fourteen long years of Tory cuts proved beyond doubt that austerity simply doesn’t work. Instead of ‘fixing the foundations’ it weakened them – reducing economic growth, squeezing wages, harming public services and pushing families into poverty.

“It’s no wonder the Labour Party is plummeting in the polls, when it has broken its promises to voters and is imposing billions of pounds of cuts, which economists are warning will hit growth.”

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Flynn said that aside from re-joining the EU single market, the “single best way” to build a stronger economy is to invest in growth by delivering the capital funding needed for green energy, affordable homes, transport, schools and hospitals.

He added: “I urge the Chancellor to put the axe down, reverse cuts to the winter fuel payment and deliver the investment needed to stimulate economic growth and improve public services.”

Speaking to Labour-friendly newspapers ahead of the conference, Prime Minister Keir Starmer (above) vowed his administration was not “going down the road of austerity”.

In her speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today, Reeves is expected to defend her strict adherence to self-imposed Tory fiscal rules – saying that “any plan for growth without stability only leads to ruin”.

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She will say there will be “no return to austerity” which the Chancellor said he been “destructive” under the Tories.

But Reeves will add: “We must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions.”

And she will re-commit to the corner into which Labour have painted themselves with a series of promises not to raise various kinds of tax.

(Image: PA)

Reeves (above) will say: “My budget will keep our manifesto commitments. Every choice we make will be within a framework of economic and fiscal stability.

“We said we would not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher or additional rate of income tax, or VAT.

“And we will cap corporation tax at its current level for the duration of this parliament.”