The Chancellor was nowhere to be seen when the Prime Minister finally confirmed the inevitable.ANALYSIS
Rachel Reeves was nowhere to be seen (Image: Parliament Live)
Keir Starmer’s plan to u-turn on Winter Fuel Payments was so blatantly obvious it could be seen from space. What was unexpected is that he should choose to stab his Chancellor of the Exchequer in the back so publicly, while she wasn’t even in the country and able to defend herself.
Ms Reeves is instead discovering news that she will have to tear up a central plank of her economic policy while 4,300 away in Canada, at the G7 finance leader’s summit. It all brings back memories of when Kwasi Kwarteng found out he was getting sacked by Liz Truss during a similar meeting of economists in America. At least Margaret Thatcher had the balls to humiliate her cabinet face-to-face.
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Kemi Badenoch slams ‘desperate’ Keir Starmer for ‘shafting country’ on winter fuel U-turn
Rachel Reeves is in Canada today (Image: Sky News)
The news from PMQs today represents one of the lowest moments for Keir Starmer’s premiership so far, and frankly it would be surprising if he surpassed it by the next election.
His party drove an already battered and bruised economy off the cliff with overly gloomy claims about its viability after the election. Then they made up this mythical ‘£22 billion black hole’ to back up their claims.
In order to fill this supposed black hole – much of which was their own creation via massive pay rises to their union bosses – they slashed welfare for some of the most vulnerable in our society.
Thousands of pensioners will have died this winter just gone as a result of the cut.
But now the polls suggest Keir Starmer is on course for the biggest election humiliation in British political history, he’s decided the economy is now doing well enough to u-turn on the winter fuel cuts.
Kemi Badenoch nailed Keir Starmer at PMQs (Image: Parliament Live)
Kemi Badenoch nailed the real long-term damage of this miserable charade at PMQs. Politically, the damage isn’t from the impact of the cut, nor the impact on the public’s trust in him from the U-turn.
It’s the misery Labour MPs will now face, knowing they were asked to go over the top into the line of machine gun fire to vote for, and defend the policy, only for it to now be dropped.
It’s the sort of backbench betrayal that lost Boris Johnson so much political capital before he was finally ousted.
Keir Starmer’s majority is built on sand, and the loyalty he receives from his backbenches is similarly weak and could snap at any moment.
Today is a major victory for the Express and those who have campaigned to reinstate Winter Fuel for the most hard-off.
But make no mistake, Keir Starmer’s handling of the last 12 months has been disastrous, and he may not have much time left to rue his decisions in No. 10 if he continues leading as arrogantly as he has been in recent months.
