Question Time fans didn’t hold back as they vented their frustration over the government slicing the winter fuel payment for all but the least well-off pensioners, as the show travelled to Ashton-under-Lyne for its latest instalment of heated debate.
In a controversial moment from the show, an audience member shone a light on the bitter situation facing thousands of elderly citizens who are set to lose out on the £300 winter fuel payment for easing the financial strain of heating their homes. They highlighted that MPs, with their annual salaries of £91,346 plus expenses, can claim up to £3,500 towards their own heating bills, claiming if these politicians skipped the perk, more than 6,700 pensioners could instead receive the winter fuel allowance.
The question was raised: “How do you justify withdrawing the payment from pensioners?”
Taking the hot seat, Labour MP and Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, acknowledged the weight of the topic, admitting the cutback was a hard-hitting reality for the public and not a measure the government had eagerly anticipated.
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Lucy Powell gave her take: “Obviously we pay heating in our homes like everybody else, and we’ve seen those costs going up and up and up in recent years with inflation and energy costs going up. There’s no denying this is a very difficult thing to do and it will be difficult for people. It’s not something we came into government wanting to do at all”, reports the Express.
Lucy described the deficit left by the previous government as “bigger than expected” saying: “There is this big black hole, it is significant. For this financial year, that’s the challenge.”
Instead of dismissing the idea for MPs to refuse the heating allowance, Ms Powell reiterated Labour’s position on the blanket withdrawal of the winter fuel payment. She highlighted that the poorest pensioners would not miss out and encouraged them to apply for pension credit, which would see the benefit reinstated.
However, Conservative MP Graham Stuart, a former government minister, slammed Labour’s approach, claiming: “It’s taking £300 away from the very poorest pensioners.”
He further argued: “The very poorest pensioners are not the pensioners on pension credit, very low income though they’ve got, it’s the people that are eligible for it – but that for one reason or another, don’t claim!”
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Lib Dem MP and former leader Tim Farron also chimed in, pointing out a critical flaw in Labour’s plan. He claimed that several pensioners would struggle to heat their homes this winter because they earn slightly too much to qualify for pension credit, due to what he claimed was an extremely low earning threshold.
He said: “The problem is to get pension credit, there’s a really low threshold, or rather to miss out, is a really low threshold. So you can be on £12,800 a year – and you’re earning too much to get pension credit. So you’re on barely just over half the national minimum wage, and yet you’re deemed to be well off enough to cope without it. That is outrageous!”
Also touching upon the tough choices faced by his own constituents, he claimed: “Some of them will have to choose between heating and eating, and in some cases, they won’t be able to afford to do either.”