Pensioner ‘betrayal’ as Labour refuses to apologise for winter fuel payment axe | Politics | News
Labour has refused to apologise for axing the winter fuel payment from up to 10 million pensioners. The Conservatives said it will not let the Government forget about their decision to means test the life line while calling on the ruling party to say sorry for its decision.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whatley said those who were earning as little as £11,500 a year were having to choose between “heating and eating”, as she said millions missed out on the payment. A Tory motion has called for the Government to publish details on how many pensioners it believes did not get the benefit, how it has affected pensioner poverty, and to apologise for the “misery caused to vulnerable pensioners” last winter.
But Labour work and pensions minister Torsten Bell said the Government had to make “responsible” fiscal decisions.
Ms Whately said: “Today was yet another betrayal for pensioners who have suffered this winter because of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
“We gave Labour MPs a chance to put party politics aside and protect vulnerable pensioners from another winter of chaos and cruelty. But their consciences failed them again.
“The British public deserve to be told the truth about what the Government have done to pensioners – but Labour refuse to do so”
The Tories said that Labour’s own research shows that 4,000 people would die because of the policy while an estimated 100,000 would be thrown into poverty.
A Daily Express crusade has demanded the Government u-turn on its winter fuel cut.
Charity Age UK said more than 80% of pensioners living around or below the poverty line would lose their payments.
Disabled pensioners were also hit, with 71% of them no longer qualifying for the payments, according to analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Speaking to MPs, Mr Bell said: “This Government has and will continue to make responsible choices, responsible in our management of the public finances, but also responsible in ensuring that we can deliver on what matters most.”
He added the state pension was increasing under Labour, and the Government was improving the NHS. He said absolute pensioner poverty had risen by 300,000 during the last 14 years of Conservative-led governments.
“Everyone in this house knows the economic and fiscal context.
“The economic stagnation of the past decade, visible in flatlining wages, collapsing public services, and strained public finances. Every economist and every person in the country knows that Britain has lived through an unprecedented economic failure.
“And in a challenging fiscal environment, difficult choices are unavoidable. The Government has set fiscal rules and we will stick to them.”
