Read what furious Yorkshire Post readers have to say about Labour's winter fuel allowance cut

Stephanie Shield, Sinnington, York.

Well said Geoff Moore (The Yorkshire Post, August 19) on his point about the need to “prune MP’s salaries”.

Additionally their allowances should be pruned. There is an endless number of items they can claim for in addition to their huge inflated salaries, things that the ordinary working person is not allowed to claim in their every day work.

In my working days I was glad to take my thermos flask and plastic box of sandwiches for my lunchtime or evening meal, not get a subsidised meal paid for by the taxpayer.

Now this government are feeling jittery having announced the cut in winter fuel payment for all pensioners.

The thousands of pensioners who are able to claim Pension Credit will make a bigger hole in the Treasury than the payment of the winter fuel allowance. Before the election, I though the Labour party said everything had been costed.

In order to claim pension credit, I think you need to have a weekly income of £218.15 or less. Maybe all the MPs, particularly Rachel Reeves should be made to spend a month on this weekly amount - no perks or additional allowances and let them learn how many pensioners have to make do to keep warm and eat.

Sue Cuthbert, Newton on Rawcliffe.

David Behrens’s article on the winter fuel payment, entitled “Chancellor may have made a major error”, made very interesting reading (The Yorkshire Post, August 3).

He points out many reasons why we pensioners should not lose this important benefit. I suggest that folk should re-read his article.

Yes, there are some pensioners who do not need this allowance but I can assure the Chancellor that most of us do.

I am a widow in my 80s who has two pensions but because the state pension was raised by over 6 per cent, I am now over the £12,000 threshold so I am now taxed on my pensions.

When I was employed I paid income tax. Why should I pay tax again?

Gas is the only form of heating for my two bedroomed cottage. This costs me nearly £2,000 per annum and I do not have it on all day and only in the winter.

Susan Abbott, in her letter on August 8, suggests that widowed and single pensioners should still receive the winter fuel allowance.

I was amazed to hear from David Behrens that some people who are working from home can claim tax relief if they have to turn their central heating up.

Rachael Reeves really must rethink this decision. People like myself, put the Labour party in Government.

I am shocked and disappointed with her attack on pensioners. She should be looking to increase income tax on those who can afford it – i.e. the very wealthy. At the next election there may be a different outcome.

Richard Godley, Meadowfields, Whitby.

I was very grateful for my fuel allowance last winter, as I could not previously see a way of keeping myself reasonably warm during cold weather. I see that the newly appointed Chancellor of our new Government has already scrapped any winter fuel allowances to all but the extremely vulnerable.

This is an expectedly easy target, as most OAP’s cannot ‘earn’ anything to offset inflation and the undoubted greedflation of the supermarkets, fuel, water and power providers. In her upcoming budget we will no doubt see a huge increase in the usual Labour targets of booze, fags and petrol, linked with stealth taxes on OAPs by not increasing the Income Tax threshold sufficiently.

The imposition of VAT on private education has already been proven not cost effective but is still going ahead albeit edged with the pinko politics of envy, typical of previous Labour administrations.

Surely targeting the multi-billion pound profits of the likes of Centrica, the owner of British Gas and (totally unjustified) water companies should feature. We’ll see.

She should concentrate on overhauling the benefits system, where there is much maladministration and cheating, give the pensioners their own tax threshold of £20,000 as she knows only too well how badly UK pensioners are treated compared to the rest of the Western world.

I would expect more from her, given her experience of working at the highest levels of our financial world. However I’m not holding my breath. I’m also wondering how much the ‘triple lock’ September CPI inflation figures will be fudged this year.

Malcolm Naylor, Cowpasture Road, Ilkley.

This is my open letter to Keir Starmer; I am unable to address you as either Sir or Dear. You deserve neither.

After your falsified pre election promises of no tax increases, you have deceitfully cut the incomes of pensioners by cancelling the winter fuel allowance.

This is by any other name taxation. And to add salt in the wound suspended the cap on care costs! What next – are bus passes and prescription charges your next target?

This “democracy” is a disgrace and you have power and control with less than 30 per cent of the electorate’s votes. This is not democracy.

You are doing exactly what Blair did in 1997 when his first act was to cut services and benefits for disabled people.

You should be ashamed of yourself and be put in the dock as a political fraudster.

I am 85, came from a working class background who always supported Labour. But never, ever again whilst it is run by fully paid up members of the Establishment like you. And the same applies to my friends and acquaintances.

This is Blair’s New Labour all over again, not only attacking the vulnerable but engaging and supporting illegal wars, arms manufacturers and those who profit from the deaths of the innocent.

I am incandescent with fury at what you have done and fear greatly what else you might do.

If you have any conscience at all you must resign and make way for genuine socialists.

Peter Auty, Great Hatfield.

I wonder if the civil servants will feel ashamed at receiving an above inflation pay rise funded by stealing the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners, or won’t they care.

The removal of the winter fuel allowance from so many pensioners is a blatant rip-off and a massive kick in the teeth to the elderly and infirm, who will now have to once again decide whether to eat or heat.

After the first four weeks in office Rachel Reeves finds a £22bn black hole in the finances, a blatant lie, as in the run-up to the General Election she said: “We have the OBR so we know what the financial situation is.”

Giving in to the unions will only make things worse, as the more they are given, the more that they will want, this will only fuel inflation

Mrs PS Ogden, Brighouse.

Not content with taking away free TV licences, giving a rise in pensions but taking back half that rise in taxing work pensions, the present Government is taking away the winter fuel payments. (The Tories were responsible for taxing pensioners.)

The only pensioners who will still receive it are those who only have the state pension to live on and are eligible for and forced to apply for pension credit. Pensioners have already had things taken away. Free TV licences, cheaper entry to stately homes, gardens etc, now families get the concession.

If the personal allowance was raised above £12,570, many poorly paid workers and pensioners would benefit. The winter fuel payment is a non-contributory and non-means tested annual payment of £100- £300 given to all households with a resident over state pension age.

If it is not means tested how can it be taken away from pensioners not claiming pension credit? You are eligible because you have reached state pension age. What else can they take away? The bus pass?

David Ellis, Hedon.

I voted for the Labour Party for the first time in 49 years of being able to vote and feel very let down about losing my winter fuel allowance which I got for the first time in 2023.

This business about the Labour Party not knowing about the £22bn deficit is quite frankly not true as their Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, surely has enough contacts in the HM Treasury to find out what the financial situation was at the time of the General Election?

Just under £10bn of the deficit was for wage increases for teachers and nurses which Labour would have honoured as they have financial backing from trade unions.

As well as attracting staff in both education and nursing, after training the staff to the requirements of the service the government needs to offer attractive terms to retain staff.

It is interesting to note that the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has offered junior doctors a 22 per cent pay increase over two years, which is equal to across the board pay offer of 5 per cent to all civil servants including highly salaried Permanent Departmental Secretaries.

It is also interesting to note that the Cabinet is nearly as big as the previous Tory Cabinet membership, except there aren’t two Secretaries of State without portfolio. Does the 2 per cent savings of departments set out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeve, apply to Downing Street?

How many government advisers have been appointed by Sir Keir Starmer and I wonder if he can better the 141 employed by Rishi Sunak? But one thing is for sure, MPs will get a higher-than-inflation pay award from the ‘independent’ body who looks after them, whilst pensioners will hope for a mild winter as the majority have lost their winter fuel allowance.

George McManus, Long Riston, East Yorkshire.

I believe Rachel Reeves has seriously mis-calculated if she believes that applying the means test to winter fuel allowance will save the taxpayer £1.4bn.

The current non-means tested allowance has the twin benefits of minimal administrative costs plus it acts as a suppressant for pensioners who might otherwise claim Pension Credit.

Up to one million people would be eligible if they claimed Pension Credit. If only a fraction of those make a claim, any Treasury savings will diminish rapidly. If enough claim, the policy could completely backfire and end up costing even more than the £1.4bn of savings. If only for economic reasons, she should think again.

Susan Abbott, Melbourne Rd, Wakefield.

I read that I’m not eligible for receiving the winter fuel payment. Having worked all my life and saved for my retirement so not receiving any benefits I am now being penalised.

I think this new Labour government should include widowed and single pensioners too as we still have the same energy bills that pensioners with two pensions coming in have.

At the same time I read that junior doctors are set to receive a 20 per cent plus pay increase. Are pensioners paying for this?

Peter Hyde, Driffield.

I was for the most part tending to vote Tory but after the fiasco of Rishi Sunak and his inability to take action over the ‘boats’ despite wasting thousands on ridiculous ideas I began to think that perhaps a Labour government could not do worse.

How wrong I was. An immediate cave in to the unions unreasonable demands for massive rises. The removal of winter fuel allowance for the elderly to pay for it and the immediate borrowing of huge sums putting yhe country into massive debt.

Clearly the promise of a more moderate Labour under a more moderate leader has quickly been ditched. Surely it can’t get worse or can it?