Boos and jeers erupted on the Labour conference floor on Monday as angry delegates protested against a delay to a crunch vote on the winter fuel payments cut.
A motion from trade unions opposing the policy – which will see 10 million pensi oners lose their allowance of up to £300 – was expected to be debated on Monday afternoon.
However, union sources claimed the vote had been delayed until Wednesday – after speeches from both Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister.
Wednesday, the final day of the conference in Liverpool, will see fewer delegates present. Sir Keir will have already departed to New York for the UN General Assembly.
There were boos from delegates as Monday’s conference sessions began. Trade union figures said the reaction was voicing anger at the attempt to push back the vote.
The furore forced one Labour figure leading the session from the stage to intervene, saying: “This conference is being watched around the country, so let’s stop this shouting and booing.”
Unite and CWU, two Left-wing trade unions, tried to force a discussion about the timing of the vote. A union source told The Telegraph there was frustration at the vote delay. It remains to be seen exactly when it will be held.
The exact wording of the motion to be put to conference remains unclear, but it will almost certainly include explicit opposition to the winter fuel payments policy, which trade union bosses have described as “cruel” and “politically inept”.
A provisional version from Unite urged the Government to reverse “all cuts to the winter fuel allowance” in the Budget on Oct 30.
Winter fuel payments used to be given to around 11 million pensioners to help with colder temperatures. Now only 1.5 million older people, on pension credit, will receive it.
At least five unions – Unite, Unison, Aslef, the FBU and the CWU – are expected to urge delegates to vote for the motion, according to union sources.
Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, contrasted the scrapping of the universal winter fuel payment with the accepting of freebies.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, she said: “I have been sickened by revelations of ‘donations’. It grates against the values of the Labour Party, created to fight for the needs of others, not self. Meanwhile, pensioners are having their winter fuel payments taken, risking going cold. I trust conference votes to change this.”
