Rachel Reeves is under pressure to U-turn on her decision to axe the winter fuel payment.
The Tories’ ad van showing Labour MPs who voted in favour of axing winter fuel payments (Image: Conservatives)
The Tories have shamed Labour at their party conference by parading a billboard highlighting their MPs who voted to axe winter fuel payments from vulnerable pensioners.
A van displayed the face of the politicians drove around Liverpool today which featured images of each Labour MP who failed to support reinstating the £300 lifeline at a crunch vote in the Commons earlier this month.
The Conservatives have also launched a website with a link to a petition, where people can send Labour a message.
The petition will be presented to the Chancellor ahead of the budget on October 30.
Protests against Winter Fuel Allowance cuts outside Labour conference
Winter fuel ad van at Toru conference (Image: Getty)
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride MP said: “Labour have made a political choice to force pensioners to suffer this winter whilst handing billions to their trade union paymasters in inflation busting pay rises.
“We said we would hold Labour to account. We won’t let Labour MPs forget how quick they were to betray the pensioners in their constituencies.”
The Government won a vote on the plan to restrict the payments to all but the poorest pensioners by 348 votes to 228 earlier this month – a majority of 120.
Fifty-two Labour MPs did not take part in the vote, including seven ministers, but it is unclear how many deliberately abstained or were absent from Parliament for another reason.
Only one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted against the government on what he said could “be a matter of life and death” for his constituents.
Winter fuel payments to pensioners rose to 11.6 million last year, figures show as the Government continues to face a backlash over its plan to cut back the benefit.
The number of people who received the payment last winter was 214,000 more than the 11.4 million in 2022-23, and it has steadily risen from 11.1 million in 2020-21, statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show.
Conservative Party Launch Winter Fuel Payment Ad Van (Image: Getty)
The annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter.
The Government is facing opposition to its decision to means-test the payment, stripping it from millions of pensioners.
Pensioners staged a protest outside Labour’s annual conference on Monday to criticise the plan.
