A woman caring for her husband with dementia has urged Sir Keir Starmer to give him “comfort and dignity” in his “final weeks”. Her heartbreaking plea comes as Labour MPs prepare to vote through the Government’s cruel winter fuel allowance cut.

Appearing on a phone call in about plans to scrap the winter fuel payment for millions of people on BBC 5 Live, Susan in Congleton said she was speaking on behalf of the many unpaid carers looking after loved ones at home.

She told the programme her husband wanted to be at home so they brought him out of hospital and he now rests in a hospital bed in the couple’s lounge.

Susan said: “He has an oxygen machine keeping him alive. He has an electric bed charger on all the time… He also has sundowning dementia which means he’s awake all night meaning the lights are on all night as well.

“My heating bill is enormous. The power that’s going out of this home just to keep him comfortable and safe is horrendous.”

Sundowning dementia is a term used to describe changes in behaviour towards the end of the day when a sufferer can become distressed and experience hallucinations.

This can continue into the night and make it hard for them to sleep, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. Susan told show host Nicky Campbell she receives the Attendance allowance benefit, which is designed to help with extra costs for those with a disability severe enough to mean they need someone to look after them.

It is paid in two different rates, with the level of care needed determing how much is received. Currently, the allowance amounts to either £72.65 or £108.55 per week.

Susan continued: “It was brought in based on need so my argument is, heating and power for somebody in need like this is a medical need.

“Can you advise me what I should economise on? Should it be the oxygen? Should it be the electric bed? Should it be his diet? Should it be the lighting all night to keep him happy?”

Asked what she would say to Keir Starmer, Susan said: “I would ask him, ‘You tell me what I can economise on. We don’t get pension credit. We are one of the many [households] a few pounds over.

“The social workers advise me there’s nothing there for us. I’m saving the country a lot of money caring for my husband, which is what we want to do.

“I don’t get the carer allowance because I have the state pension and it’s not a full one but it’s enough to keep me away from any care allowance…

“I’m not complaining because this is the life we want. The last weeks or months we have together – this is our choice – but please let my husband have the last weeks or months in some degree of comfort and dignity by this Government.”

A clearly moved Campbell was stunned into silence live on air at the end of Susan’s call, pausing to reign in his feelings before continuing the programme.

Susan shared her story a day before MPs vote on the Government’s plan to restrict winter fuel allowance to people on pension credit.

The move means some 10 million pensioners will lose out this winter as the Labour Goverment continues to insist the cut is needed to plug a contested £22billion black hole in this year’s budget.

Sharon Graham, General Secretary of the UK’s biggest union Unite, urged Sir Keir to “do a U-turn” on the policy.

She told the BBC: “We need to make sure that he is making the right choices and leadership is about choices. He needs to be big enough and brave enough to do a U-turn on this choice. It’s completely wrong.

“People do not understand how a Labour government has decided to pick the pocket of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society totally untouched. That is wrong and he needs to change course.”

Meanwhile, a dozen Labour backbenchers have signed a motion put forward by one of the party’s new MPs, Neil Duncan-Jordan, calling on the Government to delay introduction of the policy.

The motion has been signed by six of the seven Labour MPs who lost the whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the Government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap. Sir Keir also faces a potential backbench rebellion over the move

Ms Reeves will address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday in an effort to address backbench concerns.

On Monday, Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson told the BBC the Government was working to ensure all pensioners who were entitled to pension credit claimed the benefit, adding she was “sure” other mitigations were being looked at by ministers.

However, Treasury sources said she “misspoke” in suggesting the Government was looking at doing more than encouraging further take-up of pension credit.

Dame Diana told ITV she would “reluctantly” vote for the policy, saying it was “a difficult decision”.