Pensioners 'feel betrayed' by Labour cuts to Winter Fuel Allowance
Pensioners have said they feel betrayed by Labour after Rachel Reeves’ decision to limit the Winter Fuel Payment.
Payments of up to £300 had been made available to everyone above state pension age, to help with the energy crisis since the Ukraine war.
However, from this winter pensioners will only be paid if they receive pension credit. This will cut the number of people in receipt from 11.4 million to 1.5 million.
This has caused huge uproar amongst pensioners, many of whom voted for Labour for the first time in last month’s election.
Dave Ellis, of Hedon, wrote to the Yorkshire Post to say he felt “very let down about losing my winter fuel allowance”. Mr Ellis voted Labour for the first time in 49 years.
While Dorothy Marlen, 70, of North Yorkshire commented: “Do not let the government stop winter fuel payments.
“There must be many like me … I'm 70 still needing to work. I have savings for when I can't work any more but it means I can't get help.”
National Pensioners Convention general secretary Jan Shortt told the Yorkshire Post: “It will create poverty for older people. You will have people having to choose between heating and eating.
“It will put more pressure on an already burdened NHS and people will die, as they do every winter, because they can’t afford heating.”
More than 50 charities have warned that the cut, alongside an expected rise in energy prices on 1 October, could see the average pensioner household’s fuel bill rise by 15 per cent in real terms.
Focus groups by the think tank More In Common have shown the depth of feeling against Labour over this move.
Robert told More In Common that he felt it was “a serious betrayal of all the principles that the Labour Party was founded upon", while Karin said “I never thought Labour would do that when I voted for them”.
Director Luke Tryl said: “I expected it to be a negative reaction, but was taken aback by how negative, particularly to the means testing element.”
He added: “Having just 34 per cent of the vote means it is not like Labour can afford to lose much of their coalition, they need to grow it.”
When announcing the move, Rachel Reeves said: “Let me be clear, this is not a decision I wanted to make, nor is it the one that I expected to make, but these are the necessary and urgent decisions that I must make.”