Starmer refuses four times to apologise for stripping pensioners of winter fuel payments.H
Keir Starmer has refused four times to apologise for stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners – as he faces defeat in a Labour conference vote today.
The PM was repeatedly challenged to say sorry to vulnerable old people who were losing out on up to £300, but blamed the Tories for ‘putting him in this position’.
The defiant stance came in a bruising clash with Susanna Reid on ITV‘s Good Morning Morning Britain before he headed for a UN summit in New York.
Sir Keir will not be present for a debate on the controversial policy at the conference in Liverpool later, with unions vowing to give the leadership a bloody nose.
Although losing a vote would only be symbolic, it would underline the scale of anger at the government on the issue.
Asked how he could justify the cut, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, it’s tough and I think the first thing to say and to explain is why we had to do it.
‘We inherited a really damaged economy, we did an audit and we discovered an undisclosed £22billion black hole this year, which we have to fix.’
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Keir Starmer has refused four times to apologise for stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners – as he faces defeat in a Labour conference vote today
The defiant stance came in a bruising clash with Susanna Reid on ITV ‘s Good Morning Morning Britain before he headed for a UN summit in New York
Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.
‘When you inherit an economy with £22 billion missing, it is a really difficult set of choices.
‘But what I don’t want to do is to allow the economy to run out of control. What I want to make sure is that every single pensioner, there is that increase through the triple lock each and every year…’
Told again that he had an opportunity to say sorry, the PM said: ‘The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.’
Reid persisted ‘so you’re not going to apologise?’
Sir Keir said: ‘I’ve come in to fix the mess, fix the problems, and that’s tough, really tough decisions.
‘The cost of not doing it is to run the risk that we lose control of the economy again.
‘I’m not going to do that because if I do, you will be saying to me in two or three years’ time, if we lose control of the economy, will you now say sorry for having lost control of the economy?’
Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have put forward the winter fuel motion at Labour conference.
Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.’
It was originally set to be debated on Monday – but was rescheduled for after Sir Keir had given his big speech and departed amid rumours of backroom manoeuvring.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has described the policy as ‘cruel’ and called on the PM to admit he made a ‘misstep’.
CWU officials will not be at Labour’s conference today as they are attending the funeral in Scotland of the union’s former assistant general secretary Andy Kerr, who used to be on Labour’s national executive.
The motion calls for means testing of the winter fuel allowance to be reversed and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.
Sir Keir Starmer insisted pensioners owuld be (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer refused to apologise four times for stripping pensioners of the winter fuel payment during an interview with Susanna Reid.
Up to 10 million older people will lose the £300 payment after Rachel Reeves’ decision to axe it in a bid to fill a £22 billion blackhole.
The Prime Minister was asked how he can justify taking away the money from those formerly working people while appearing on Good Morning Britain.
Keir Starmer refused to apologise (Image: GMB)
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He said: “Well, it’s tough and I think the first thing to say and to explain is why we had to do it. We inherited a really damaged economy, we did an audit and we discovered an undisclosed £22 billion black hole this year, which we have to fix.”
Susanna Reid from the show later talked about a regular viewer of Good Morning Britain, Chrissy.
She is a pensioner and an NHS nurse for 25 years on the full state pension, which puts her just a few pounds over the threshold for pension credit.
Arthritis sufferer Chrissy is about to lose her winter fuel allowance. She estimates her fuel bills are about to go up by £40 a month this winter and she is dreading it. She voted for Labourbut she feels let down.
Nick Hewer discusses Winter Fuel Payment cuts
Asking Sir Keir if he would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to pensioners like Chrissy, he said: “Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position. When you inherit an economy with £22 billion missing, it is a really difficult set of choices. But what I don’t want to do is to allow the economy to run out of control.
What I want to make sure is that every single pensioner, there is that increase through the triple lock each and every year. £460 next year because of the triple lock. We have to take that action. But I also have to fix the NHS. Talking to pensioners, so many of them want the NHS to work properly because they’re dependent on it.”
Asked again if he would like to apologise, Sir Keir continued “What I’d say to Chrissy is this. I absolutely promised that we would stabilise the economy to make sure we never had the economy getting out of control again. We then discovered £22 billion missing.”
Asked again later in the interview, if the Prime Minister would like to apologise, he said “The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22 billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.”
Pushed again for a fourth time, Susanna asked ‘So you’re not going to apologise?’ to which he said: “I’ve come in to fix the mess, fix the problems, and that’s tough, really tough decisions. The cost of not doing it is to run the risk that we lose control of the economy again. I’m not going to do that because if I do, you will be saying to me in two or three years’ time, if we lose control of the economy, will you now say sorry for having lost control of the economy?
“So the apology needs to come from the last government who left such a mess, £22 billion black hole, we can’t walk past it, it’s a huge amount of money, and if we don’t stabilise the economy, we can’t keep to the triple lock. And the triple lock is really important for every pensioner because that is the increase year on year. As I say, £900 this year, £460 next year.”
