Plan to chop winter gas funds passes as Keir Starmer faces revolt

Keir Starmer has pushed through his plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners despite a major backlash from Labour MPs.

The PM won the vote in the Commons with a motion to cancel his plan defeated by 348 votes to 228 – a majority of 120. But some of his own MPs refused to back his decision to scrap winter fuel allowance for most OAPs. The controversial plan has faced criticism from charities and the public but it passed thanks to Labour’s massive Commons majority.

Mr Starmer, who has admitted the move is unpopular, has resisted calls to rethink the cut for 10million pensioners, or to tweak the eligibility for the £300 winter fuel payment. In the summer Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the support would now be restricted to just OAPs on pension credit or other benefits. She said she was left with no other option after finding a £22billion black hole in the public finances left by the Tories.

MPs raised fierce criticism to the plan during a 90-minute debate in the Commons on Tuesday. Lib Dem spokeswoman for work and pensions Wendy Chamberlain said scrapping the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners is “simply wrong”.

“We on these benches accept that the new Government has been left with an unenviable task of re-building our economy after the mess left by the previous government, and nobody is disputing that years of Conservative mismanagement have left the public finances in crisis,” she said. “But this cut is simply wrong, it is wrong to strip support from many of the poorest pensioners, just as energy bills are set to rise again, it is wrong to force vulnerable elderly people to make that choice between heating and eating this winter, and it is the wrong answer to the challenges that we face.”

Ahead of the vote, Money Saving Expert founder, Martin Lewis, who was due to meet the Chancellor on Tuesday, said he was confident there would be no Government U-turn on the issue. But he said a number of Labour MPs had privately asked him to attempt to change Ms Reeves’s mind.

He told Times Radio: “I cannot tell you the look in the eyes, many of those MPs, when it was talked about, I was going to meet Rachel Reeves, which I’m doing later this afternoon, and there was a sort of look, and it was very plain, they were going, oh, I hope you manage to change her mind.” He added: “I find it very fascinating, because many of the new Labour MPs are totally torn, they want to be loyal, they want to stick with the whip, they want to do the right thing, they want to go with the party. But they have their buttocks clenched about supporting this policy.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds claimed Labour had “no choice” but to cut the winter fuel payment. He also rejected suggestions the controversial decision could see some die of cold this winter. Asked whether ministers accepted this was a possibility, he told the BBC: “No. We are making sure that we can reassure people by saying the state pension is higher than last winter and energy bills are lower than last winter.”

Earlier this week it emerged Labour’s own research from 2017 found cutting the winter fuel allowance would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter. They published their findings in a warning to the then-Tory government – a warning that has now come back to haunt their own Government.

Pensioners who are worried about losing the help have been urged to check if they are eligible for other benefits. It is estimated that 880,000 people who are entitled to pension credit don’t claim it. The Government launched a week of action to raise awareness and call on everyone who is eligible to sign up. This will ensure they don’t miss out on Winter Fuel Payments.

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