Tory leadership candidates unite against Rachel Reeves' Winter Fuel Payment cut
Payments of up to £300 had been made available to everyone above state pension age, to help with the energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, from this winter pensioners will only receive a payment if they are receiving pension credit.
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Hide AdMore than 50 charities and organisations have warned that this 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.


Six candidates are challenging for the leadership – Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Dame Priti Patel – with the winner announced on 2 November.
And all of them have said they would reverse the cut to the Winter Fuel Payment if they got into power.
In a statement, interim Tory Party chairman Richard Fuller and Chief Whip Stuart Andrews welcomed “their support for pensioners across the country”.
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Hide Ad“In only a few short weeks Labour have shown their true colours with plans to make pensioners and hardworking people pay the price to appease their union paymasters,” they added.
National Pensioners Convention general secretary Jan Shortt told the Yorkshire Post: “It will put more pressure on an already burdened NHS and people will die, as they do every winter, because they can’t afford to heat their home.”
Yesterday, a Downing Street spokeswoman said that the Chancellor is “provided with advice before making policy decisions” when asked about these consequences.
Announcing the move last month, 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.”
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Hide AdIt comes as a new poll puts Mr Cleverly ahead amongst Tory members. The field will be narrowed to four in time for the party’s conference in the autumn, before MPs vote for a final two who will face a ballot of Conservative members.
The pollster Techne found that Mr Cleverly was backed by 26 per cent of membership, above Dame Priti on 20 per cent, Ms Badenoch on 14 per cent and Mr Tugendhat on 11 per cent. The research also found that the former Home Secretary would beat every other contender in a run-off election.