Rachel Reeves confirms more pensioners will get access to Winter Fuel Payment as she unveils £15bn spending plan

Speaking on Wednesday morning, the Chancellor said she will set out the details of the plan next week as she promised the "biggest ever investment by a British government in transport links within our city regions and their surrounding towns."

"Today I want to tell you about just one part of our plan -  renewing our transport systems in England's largest metal regions, including here in Greater Manchester and across the North and in the Midlands," Ms Reeves said.

The Chancellor said the £15.6bn pot of cash will be granted to regional mayors as Labour looks to fulfil its campaign promise to revive the British economy.

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When asked about the Government's reported U-turn on Winter Fuel Payments, she said: "We have now put our public finances on a firmer footing. The economy is in a better shape.

"But we have also listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means test [of the winter fuel payment]."And so we will be making changes to that.

"They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter.

"We'll announce the detail of that and the level of that, as soon as we possibly can.

"But people should be in no doubt the means test will increase, and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter."

Hitting out at the previous Government, Ms Reeves said: "The last government made big promises to invest in city regions. We heard it all but they had no plan to fund.

"Thanks to the changes to our fiscal framework announced in the budget, this government now does have the money to fund it, and that money is going to our mayors to deliver on the priorities of their communities."

Today's announcement will mean more money for areas of the North and Midlands, including the so-called "Red Wall", where Labour MPs face an electoral challenge from Reform UK.

The investment announced on Wednesday includes £2.4 billion for the West Midlands to fund an extension of the region's metro from Birmingham city centre to the new sports quarter, and £2.1 billion to start building West Yorkshire Mass Transit by 2028.

Greater Manchester will receive £2.5 billion for projects including new tram stops in Bury, Manchester and Oldham and an extension of the tram network to Stockport.

A £1.5 billion investment in South Yorkshire will include £530 million to renew the region's trams, while the East Midlands will receive £2 billion to design a new mass transit system between Derby and Nottingham.

In the south, the West of England will receive £800 million, including £200 million to develop mass transit links between Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and north Somerset.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the announcement "marks a watershed moment on our journey to improving transport across the North and Midlands - opening up access to jobs, growing the economy and driving up quality of life".

Some projects being backed on Wednesday, such as the development of a mass transit network in West Yorkshire, formed part of Rishi Sunak's "Network North" plan intended to compensate for the decision to scrap the HS2 line north of Birmingham.

After coming to power last July, Labour launched a review of those projects, arguing they had not been fully funded.

Wednesday's announcement is the first from the spending review due on June 11 that will set out the Government's day-to-day departmental budgets for the next three years and investment budgets for the next four.

The review is expected to be a difficult one for the Government, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies saying the Chancellor faces "unavoidably tough decisions" as the demands of NHS and defence spending raise the prospect of cuts in other departments.