Sir Keir Starmer claims ‘every pensioner’ will be better off under Labour as figures show millions to lose Winter Fuel Payment
The number of people who received the payment last winter was 214,000 more than the 11.4 million in 2022-23, and it has steadily risen from 11.1 million in 2020-21, statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show.
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Hide AdThe annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter.
The Government is facing opposition to its decision to means-test the payment, stripping it from millions of pensioners.
Pensioners staged a protest outside Labour’s annual conference on Monday to criticise the plan.
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Hide AdA conference showdown on the issue is expected today as Unite and the Communication Workers Union have put forward motions to debate the policy and push for its reversal.
Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of those surveyed in a new YouGov poll said they had expected Labour to do well but were disappointed, with 28 per cent of that group citing changes to winter fuel payments as their main reason for feeling that way.
Two Yorkshire Councils, Hull and Calderdale, have passed motions calling for the government to U-turn.
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Hide AdThe Prime Minister attempted to defend his decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment in speech yesterday.
He promised “no return to Tory austerity”, but said: “If you can’t take that on faith, perhaps because you’re concerned about the winter fuel allowance, then I get that.”
He continued: “As I say, if this path were popular or easy we would have walked it already.
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Hide Ad“But the risk of showing to the world - as the Tories did - that this country does not fund its policies properly, that is a risk we can never take again.”
And he claimed that with the triple lock “every pensioner in this country - every pensioner - will be better off with Labour”.
The state pension is set to rise by around £400 next April, due to the triple lock.
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Hide AdSimon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, responded: "The Prime Minister simply can't make the guarantee that every pensioner will be better off.
“With the Winter Fuel Payment being removed from so many people, the Government is gambling with pensioners' ability to keep warm this winter and with that, their health and wellbeing.”
He said that 1.2 million pensioners in absolute poverty and 1.6 million disabled pensioners will no longer get Winter Fuel Payments under the Chancellor's new rules.
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Hide AdMr Francis added: “They are the people we are most worried about.
“After this winter, there is no guarantee that these pensioners will be in good enough health to enjoy the prosperity of the years ahead which the Prime MInister wants us to believe in."
Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Darling said in response to the DWP statistics: “Hundreds of thousands more pensioners are now set to lose out on these desperately needed payments that protect so many from having to choose between heating and eating.
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Hide Ad“Cutting these payments for pensioners, which include millions who are just scraping by and are now worried about how they will get through the winter, is totally wrong.
“It is not too late for this new Government to change course and Liberal Democrat MPs will push them every step of the way to reverse these cuts and protect vulnerable pensioners this winter.”
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