Labour figuring out pensioners can be pushed into poverty proves they’re imply in addition to daft
DEPRIVING most old folk of their winter fuel allowance was the meanest, and daftest, thing Labour has done. The decision within days of taking office was wrong in principle, ill-timed and amateurishly presented. It provoked widespread anger.
And the absence of an impact assessment was unforgivable. Ministers should have known – or, at least, tried to find out – what the consequences would be.
Now we know, they did, in secret. Four months later, we are finding out from their own statistics. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall reveals that her officials made an internal assessment that 100,000 more pensioners would be pushed into poverty.
So they knew what would happen, but still carried on. They decided not to tell millions of pensioners affected by their “tough decision”. And this is a Labour government? as former leader Neil Kinnock might have said.
The shameful truth emerges from Whitehall as freezing temperatures grip the country and inflation rises sharply again because of soaring fuel prices.
It’s not too late for a U-turn on this deeply-unpopular hit. Scottish Labour have promised to bring back the winter fuel allowance there if they gain power north of the border.
Many Labour MPs are unhappy with what is being done in their name. They should listen to the voters, not the government Whips ordering them to follow the government like sheep.
They should remember the sheep with the bell round its neck in the abattoir survives, and the rest perish.
Everybody in the wicked game of politics has their story about John Prescott, the Labour giant who has died aged 86.
Mine goes right back to the 90s when he was Shadow Transport Secretary in Tony Blair’s Shadow Cabinet. He drove a fast, flash motor, but he wasn’t yet famous for it, and one Saturday morning we talked on the phone while he was at the wheel going North.
It wasn’t illegal then, but Prezza suddenly broke contact. The police had stopped him, he feared, for speeding (he was).
“It’s all right,” he came back swiftly. “They said, ‘We know who you are, Mr Prescott. We’re not bothered about the speed, but your tailgate is open and flapping’.”
There were a few salty words in his narrative, but that was John. You might not know what he was saying, but you always knew what he meant.
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum! But not, perhaps, the new hooch on sale at Highgrove, the King’s Gloucestershire retreat. Not, me hearties, at £44.95 a bottle, even if it is infused with honey from the royal hives. I’m partial to dark rum, usually at the end of a session when I should know better. Thankfully, I can’t stand whisky. The King’s limited edition costs an eye-watering £250. Limits not specified.
