JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Labour should do U-turn over winter gas funds

The axeing of the winter fuel payment for nearly 10 million elderly people is one of the most despicable acts I have ever witnessed from a ­government – blue or red –since I began reporting on personal finance issues 35 years ago.

It makes my blood boil with rage every time I think about it, even in the middle of the night.

Last Tuesday, after the Prime Minister’s defence of his Chancellor’s curtailment of the payment – and following my visit to ­Downing Street to hand over a letter urging Labour to do a U-turn – I woke in a cold sweat. I had dreamt that Sir Keir Starmer had locked me in the Tower of London for the ferocity of my criticism.

It took me an age – and a couple of Nytol sleeping tablets – to get back to sleep. Maybe it was a premonition. One reader had already jokingly said that The Tower was where I am heading.

A month on from the announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, I still haven’t managed to get my brain round it.

However I look at it, however I analyse and dissect it, the decision to take away the payment (worth up to £300 a year) from all pensioners bar those on pension credit is wrong. Horribly wrong.

For a start, it doesn’t make financial sense in terms of ­savings (£1.4 billion a year). In the realm of government spending – around ­£1,226 billion a year give or take the odd £1billion – £1.4 billion is peanuts.

And given the recent rush among eligible pensioners to sign up for pension credit, I am sure £1.4 billion will not be saved.

Why Chancellor? Is it because most ­pensioners vote Tory?

Is it because your elderly, champagne drinking friends joke about giving the ­payment to grandchildren?

If so, step outside your bubble and speak to those elderly pensioners who are hurting – fearful of the winter ahead and booming ­(unaffordable) energy bills.

It also doesn’t make sense ­politically. As campaigners have argued in recent weeks, removing the universal right to the payment will hit some of the poorest ­pensioners the hardest – those who are eligible for pension credit, but unable or unwilling to claim it; and the two million elderly people whose incomes are just above the limit to qualify.

It begs the question: what does Labour stand for if it isn’t ­protecting the most vulnerable in ­society? Its targeting of pensioners is misguided and wrong – and many Labour MPs, Labour peers and Left-wing commentatorsknow it, too.

The letter delivered to Rachel Reeves last week, supported by redacted correspondence from readers impacted by the loss of the winter fuel payment, called for a suspension of the changes. Too many pensioners just do nothave sufficient time to adjusttheir budgets to make good the loss of this winter’s £200 or£300 ­payment.

We also urged the Chancellor to look at other ways of trimming the payment, for example taxing it as if it was part of the state pension. We have yet to hear back from Ms Reeves, but we will publish her response when (and if) it comes.

I fear she is not for turning and she could confirm this stubborn approach when the House of Commons reopens this week.

I hope she doesn’t bury her head in the sand. The tide is against her, and she should accept she has made an awful gaffe over the ­winter fuel payment.

A U-turn won’t make one iota of difference to the health of the country’s public finances.

As we all know, there is a bucketload of revenue-raising taxes ­coming our way in the months ahead. By all means, make my financial life a little more difficult, but please don’t pick the pockets of hard-pressed ­pensioners.

Cheered by the kindness of Mail on Sunday readers

Two final comments on winter fuel payments. First, I would like to thank all of you who have contacted me by email or letter to express your thoughts on the issue.

I have tried to respond to everyone. If I’ve missed anyone, my apologies.

Second, I would like to give a special ­mention to a handful of readers who offered to help a couple of pensioners that my ­colleague Toby Walne and I wrote about in Money Mail (our wonderful sister money ­section that appears in the Daily Mailevery Wednesday).

The two pensioners in question (Brian Ashton and David Tarrant) feared that the loss of their winter fuel payment would seriously impact on their respective ability to feed their pet (a dog on a vet-advised diet because of acute weight issues) – and to purchase an electric hoist to get his wife in and out of the car for day-trips out from her care home.

Mary Connelly, Celia Walser, Julia ­Hillchurch and Joan Breeze were among those who either offered to pay for the dog food or contribute to the purchase of the hoist. Kindness personified, but then I wouldn’t expect anything else from you lovely readers.

Use your library so the council can’t get rid of it

Like banks, libraries are a key part of a community’s fabric. Sadly, as with high street bank branches, they are also closing – 800 since 2010 – while many are cutting back on opening hours. Further closures are likely in the months ahead unless Labour relieves some of the financial pressure on many near bankrupt councils – or councils start prioritising essential services over creating yet more nebulous jobs (that come with gold plated pensions).

Our love of libraries has been demonstrated in recent weeks, following the damage done to the Spellow Library Hub in Walton, Liverpool,by rioters. Donations in excess of £250,000 poured in from all corners of the UKas well as from locals to enable the library’s damaged books to be replaced and the ­building repaired.

The library in my home town of Wokingham in Berkshire is part of a thriving community centre (the Carnival Hub) that includes a gym and swimming pool. It also occasionally hosts live music events – in late 2022, I saw a couple of rather good tribute bands there (Ultimate Elton & The Rocket Band plus The Police Academy). I even dad-danced to their take on Roxanne.

It also has rooms where local groups, for example, Wokingham Writers, can occasionally meet. Indeed, early last month, I was thrilled to be invited to a book launch by local author Stephen Ross – a rather racy tale called The Candlemaker’s Affair. Stephen is a remarkable individual who managed to finish the book despite being diagnosed with motor neurone disease half-way through writing it.

I even used the opportunity to take out two PJ Tracy books (part of the Monkeewrench series) from the library and read them without getting fined for returning them late.

Like your local bank, do use your library and make it impossible for the council to get rid of it. Community matters – something Labour says it also cares about. Well, let’s wait and see on that.