BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

Hello, I'm Sean Curran, and this is yesterday in Parliament from BBC Radio 4.

On Tuesday, the 24th of March, Rachel Reeves told MPs that the government was planning for every contingency

as she set out how she proposed to deal with the economic fallout

from the war in Iran. With no indication of how long the conflict in Iran will last, or how it will

affect the UK economy, the Chancellor couldn't give MPs many details of who would be helped

and how if gas and electricity bills increase later

this year. But Rachel Reeves was clear that whatever happened, there would be no repeat of the

universal bailout scheme introduced in 2022. The previous government pushed up borrowing,

interest rates, inflation and mortgage costs

with an unfunded, untargeted package of support under Liz Trust.

That gave the support to the most wealthiest of households.

She said this time round the support would be offered to those who needed it most.

The Conservative Shadow Chancellor, Semel Stride, said four years ago,

Sakea Stama had called for a universal bailout.

He accused Rachel Reeves of coming to the Commons with the economy in tatters.

On energy, on the cost of living, on jobs, on growth, on public finances,

on every measure that matters, this Chancellor has left us weak, weak, weak.

There was a very different tone to the exchanges between the Chancellor

and a former occupant of 11 Downing Street, Sir Jeremy Hunt.

He wanted Rachel Reeves to take a less partisan approach, but he backed the idea of a targeted

scheme to help households with their energy bills.

...