Sir Keir Starmer faced calls to reverse the controversial cut in winter fuel payments at Prime Minister’s Questions, as pressure on the government mounts to change course after the local elections.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged the prime minister to “admit he was wrong to remove the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners”.
“His mayor in Doncaster says it’s wrong, his first minister in Wales says it’s wrong, even his own MPs say it’s wrong… Will he at least listen to his own party and change course?” Badenoch asked in the first PMQs since the local elections.
Starmer insisted he was putting the public finances “back in order, after the last government lost control”.
A group of Starmer’s own MPs from the ‘Red Wall’ have called on the government to act, writing in a letter that: “Responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.
The group called on the government to “break away from Treasury orthodoxy otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey told the Commons: “Among the messages voters sent ministers last week, one stood out – bring back the winter fuel payment for millions of struggling pensioners.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “you can’t do everything at the same time”, and ministers “want to go faster” in implementing changes.
Downing Street insist “there will not be a change to the government’s policy” on winter fuel, despite ministers accepting the issue hurt the party in the local elections.
The government insists there are other ways they’re supporting pensioners, pointing to an expected £1,900 increase in the state pension over the course of the Parliament and an extension to the household support fund.
Reports suggested changes were being considered to restore the winter fuel payments to some who lost the handouts worth up to £300.
Cabinet minister Wes Streeting admitted to ITV News the policy was a “big issue” at the ballot box last week but said there was no formal review taking place.
Wales’ First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan on Tuesday became the latest senior Labour figure to call for a government u-turn, saying “it’s something that comes up time and again”.
Her call followed that of newly re-elected Labour Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones, who said it was “wrong” to cut winter fuel, and called on the government to listen to the public.
Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh also said the loss of winter fuel payments along with welfare cuts were “totemic” for many voters, calling on Starmer to consider a wealth tax.
She told the BBC: “We just cannot continue down this path that means… we keep coming and raiding those people that can least afford it.”
The decision last July to restrict the winter fuel payment to the poorest pensioners was intended to save around £1.5 billion a year, with more than nine million people who would have previously been eligible losing out.
On Friday, Labour lost the previously safe Runcorn and Helsby constituency in a by-election and almost 200 councillors as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made sweeping gains in last week’s elections.
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