The Prime Minister confirmed changes to winter fuel payment means-testing but said MPs would have to wait for details.
Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street to head for PMQs (Image: Getty)
Furious Labour MPs are demanding Sir Keir Starmer confirm full details of his winter fuel payment u-turn immediately. The Prime Minister surprised his own MPs when he confirmed in the House of Commons that rumours of a climb-down were true, and said the means-testing threshold would be raised – meaning more pensioners will receive vital payments of up to £300 to stay warm in winter.
But there are still no details of what the new threshold will be and Sir Keir said more information would come in a “fiscal event”, which suggests a formal statement such as the Spending Review on June 11. Labour MP Jon Trickett, a former front-bencher, demanded: “The Winter Fuel cuts were a major error. They ought to be reversed in total now.”
Starmer’s stepdown represents a victory for The Express who led a crusade to reverse Labour’s cruel stance.
John McDonnell, a former Labour shadow chancellor who is now an independent MP, said: “We can all recognise a u-Turn when we see one. Questions have to be asked on how we got into this mess and if the lesson has also been learnt about the cuts to disability benefits.”
Sir Keir said the Government had needed to “stabilise the economy with tough decisions” after taking over from the Tories, but that it was now starting to improve.
He said he understood the financial pressures on pensioners, speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions.
“I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, including pensioners,” he told the Commons.
“As the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements in their days as their lives go forward. That is why we want to ensure that, as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.
He said the Government will “only make decisions we can afford” and will therefore look at this as part of a fiscal event.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch challenged him over the “U-turn”, calling him “desperate”.
Asked if he was planning a U-turn, the Prime Minister said: “As the economy improves, we want to take measures that will impact on people’s lives, and therefore we will look at the threshold, but that will have to be part of a fiscal event.”
Mrs Badenoch said: “I wonder how the public feel about a man can’t give a straight answer to a simple question, and you look at all of them behind him, all of them cheering: when this inevitable U-turn on winter fuel comes – and it will, from a desperate Prime Minister – what will he say to the 348 MPs who went over the top and voted for the winter fuel cut last September?
“Just like the British public, how can any of them ever trust him again?”
Before the u-turn, some of Sir Keir’s MPs publicly warned that winter fuel payment means-testing helped cause the defeat, while many more have expressed private concerns.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell said following the May 1 local elections that Labour was being damaged by “all of these poor decisions that are being made” including the decision to refuse compensation to “Waspi” women hit by the state pension age increase. She warned: “Policies that have been introduced since July that weren’t in our manifesto – the cuts to winter fuel, not honouring the Waspi women, taking away the vital lifeline of support for disabled people – of course people are confused.”
Fellow Labour MP Emma Lewell said earlier this month: “Labour was elected on the promise that we would be committed to serving the public and in doing so improve their lives.
“Within months of that General Election there was the ‘freebies’ scandal and the removal of winter fuel from millions of pensioners.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Week after week at PMQs Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives have pressed the Prime Minister to u-turn on his cruel winter fuel payments cut. And week after week Keir Starmer defended the policy.
“It’s taken the threat of his MPs losing their jobs, and his Cabinet descending into open warfare over which taxes to raise, for the Prime Minister to finally recognise the hardship his winter fuel policy has caused.
“Pensioners already suffering under this government’s spiralling inflation will want to see the detail of this latest screeching u-turn as soon as possible.”
