The Guardian view on Labour’s economics: relax those fiscal rules

All this pain, personal and political, over just one small benefit. The Treasury estimates that it will claw back £1.4bn this year from the cut, although Rachel Reeves’ attempts to mitigate the harm by driving more households to get pension credit will inevitably reduce the saving she hopes to make. One billion is a huge amount for any household, but small in Westminster terms. More to the point, next month the chancellor will unveil a package of spending cuts and tax rises totalling £22bn. Beyond that, the commitments Labour made in opposition mean that in government it is on the hook to make annual savings of about £20bn. This is the equivalent of closing two modestly sized Whitehall departments every year.