This winter will be ‘deeply challenging’ for millions of pensioners after winter fuel payment axe by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, charity warns! B
This winter will be ‘a deeply challenging one’ for millions of pensioners following the Government’s restriction of winter fuel payments, a charity has warned.
Some 10million pensioners will not get the allowance – worth up to £300 – after MPs signed off on the controversial measure by 348 to 228 on Tuesday afternoon.
MPs voted to reject the Conservative motion to block the move, with around a dozen Labour MPs thought to have deliberately abstained and one, Jon Trickett, voting against.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, said the defeat of a Tory motion was ‘inevitable’ – but added the charity was still ‘deeply disappointed’ by the motion.
The result means that the plan to restrict winter fuel payments only to those receiving pension credit will go ahead this winter, a policy Age UK says it has strongly opposed.
The charity argues the Government’s decision will negatively impact around 2.5million low income pensioners who will ‘badly need’ the benefit this winter.
The result means that the plan to restrict winter fuel payments only to those receiving pension credit will go ahead this winter
Some 10million pensioners will not get the allowance – worth up to £300 – after MPs signed off on the controversial measure by 348 to 228 on Tuesday afternoon (pictured from left to right: Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves)
Ms Abrahams said: ‘The reality is that driving through this policy as the Government is doing will make millions of poor pensioners poorer still and we are baffled as to why some ministers are asserting that this is the right thing to do.
‘We and many others are certain that it is not, and that’s why we will continue to stand with the pensioners who can’t afford to lose their payment and campaign for them to be given more Government support.
‘Meanwhile, winter is coming and we fear it will be a deeply challenging one for millions of older people who have previously relied on their winter fuel payment to help pay their energy bills and who have no obvious alternative source of funds on which to draw.’
Ms Abrahams added that it was ‘crystal clear’ that there was not enough time to improve take-up of pension credit before colder weather arrived.
Ministers say restricting winter fuel payments is necessary to help fill a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in this year’s budget, which they claim was caused by the previous government making unfunded spending commitments.
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition – made up of more than 70 charities, campaign groups and other organisations – also criticised the decision.
The coalition’s co-ordinator, Simon Francis, said MPs had voted to ‘condemn some of the most vulnerable pensioners to live in cold damp home this winter’.
He said: ‘Parliamentarians and ministers should examine their conscience and the deluge of correspondence they have had on this issue from worried pensioners and back ways to mitigate the pain of the cut.’
Meanwhile, broadcaster and celebrity mathematician Carol Vorderman attacked Sir Keir Starmer over the decision, saying he should apologise to those who had ‘loaned their vote’ to Labour.
She told Sky News’ Politics Hub: ‘I’m shocked by it, because they could raise that money in so many other ways.’
Carol Vorderman (pictured) attacked Sir Keir Starmer over the decision, saying he should apologise to those who had ‘loaned their vote’ to Labour
MPs signed off the controversial measure by 348 to 228 to this afternoon. It appears significant Labour numbers abstained from the division – which technically was on a Tory motion to annul the plan
The Commons result – which drew shouts of ‘shame’ in the chamber – came after a bruising debate, with warnings that panicking old people are planning to ride buses all day and go to bed at 5pm to stay warm.
Kicking off the debate in the Commons, shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said Sir Keir’s promises of ‘integrity’ had ‘gone out the window’ and urged Labour MPs to ‘look to your conscience’.
‘Broken promises already, that special contract that they sought to have with the British people based on integrity and decency smashed into a million pieces,’ he said.
Tories lined up to condemn the decision to strip the benefit from 10million pensioners.
Former minister Esther McVey claimed that Labour has ‘declared war on pensioners’.
She told the Commons: ‘The public knows this decision to rob millions of pensioners of their winter fuel allowance – for which the Government has no mandate – has nothing to do with economics, and everything to do with cynical political calculations, and the haste with which it is being done is breathtaking.’
Ministers have been pointing to an expected £460 rise in the state pension next year in a bid to defuse the row.
Official figures typically used to set the increase in April showed earnings going up by 4 per cent.
Ms Reeves last night told panicking Labour MPs she would not back down – and suggested pensioners could afford to tighten their belts this winter
Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have been highlighting the prospect of a hike to offset the loss of up to £300 from the winter fuel allowance.
Ms Reeves last night told panicking Labour MPs she would not back down – and suggested pensioners could afford to tighten their belts this winter.
The Chancellor said she did not ‘relish’ the cut, but warned there would be ‘more difficult decisions to come’ in next month’s Budget.
Ministers have refused to publish an assessment of the likely impact of the cut, which will save £1.5billion a year.
The ‘triple lock’ means the state pension rises by the highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent. For April the earnings figure will almost certainly be the top figure.
A 4 per cent increase would mean the full state pension for men born after 1951 and women born after 1953 hitting £11,962.50 next year. That comes after a £900 increase last year.
