Ed Miliband has defended the chancellor as someone with "an absolute commitment to fiscal stability".
The energy security and net-zero secretary is being asked about Rachel Reeves' decision-making after she U-turned on her cuts to winter fuel payments yesterday.
Miliband says most of the cuts have been reversed, as the chancellor has now "stabilised the public finances".
He believes making more pensioners eligible for payments is "the right thing to do".
Pushed on whether Reeves was forced into the U-turn by a wave of frustration and anger from pensioners, MPs and pressure groups, Miliband responds that Reeves "heard from lots of people".
He says: "The feeling [was] that the level of the threshold is unfair - that it isn't set high enough. And that's why she's responded."
Yesterday, Reeves raised the threshold so that any person of pension age with an income of 拢35,000 or less will now receive the benefit. Previously, only those receiving pension credit or similar were entitled to winter fuel payments.
Winter fuel payment threshold 'wasn't correct', admits minister
Pushed again, this time on the fact that the return of winter fuel payments is now an unfunded commitment Reeves did not want to make, Miliband responds that "chancellors always get criticism".
He says: "I think one of the criticisms of Rachel Reeves that people wouldn't make is she showed real fiscal responsibility. This is somebody who's shown a willingness to take the tough decisions, and this is somebody who's had an absolute commitment to fiscal stability."
Miliband says he thinks "it's correct what she's done".
But he acknowledges that many people felt the principle of removing benefits from the richest pensioners "wasn't wrong but the threshold wasn't correct".