Labour Party scraps Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners...

[rebbonk]

... Starmer insisted on Tuesday that he had not wanted to remove the payment ...

He (along with Reeves and Rayner) is on record (many times) saying that he would not touch it.

A little quote from the government website that Starmer might like to read... "How a society treats its most vulnerable – whether children, the infirm or the elderly – is always the measure of its humanity" Very little humanity from Starmer and co!

[dutchman]

‘Starmer promised me he would protect pensioners – his winter fuel raid let me down’



A pensioner who Sir Keir Starmer promised to protect from soaring energy bills says she feels “let down” by the prime minister’s decision to axe her winter fuel allowance.

Joyce Hays, 80, told Sir Keir she was afraid to turn the heating on when she met him during a Labour visit to Dewsbury, Yorkshire.

Sir Keir said he was “more than shocked” by her situation and pledged that he was “doubly determined to do something about it”.

In May, during an election campaign video, he told cameras how the pensioners he met in Dewsbury were in an “awful position” and remembered meeting an 84-year-old woman who couldn’t get out of bed because of high energy bills.

He then pledged: “Pensioners deserve security in retirement. That’s what my Labour government will deliver”.

But four months later, the Government announced plans to scrap winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, including Ms Hays who will miss out on £300 a year.

The lifelong Labour supporter said: “I do feel a bit [betrayed] by it and it is disappointing, but it doesn’t really surprise me as it’s what politicians do.

“You are talking to someone who has voted Labour since they were 21, and they all let you down.

“If I was in his position, I’d have halved the allowance rather than cutting the whole lot. I am a bit upset about it.”

During his visit in 2022, Sir Keir stressed that no one should have to wrap up and be frightened to heat their home in the 21st century.

Ms Hays now plans to double up on dressing gowns this winter.

“As we used to do in the good old, bad old days, I’ll put extra clothing on,” she said.

“I have got a couple of fleece dressing gowns and will put them on. You do what you can.”

Ms Hays, who is unmarried and has no children, gets a £805 monthly state pension and a £400 a month pension from Kirklees Council, where she worked for disability services.

Her income means she does not qualify for pension credit and will therefore not receive the winter fuel allowance.

[dutchman]

Economy could have crashed if winter fuel payments for pensioners weren't cut, Labour minister claims

As opposed to awarding inflation-busting pay-rises for public-sector workers I suppose?

[dutchman]

Pensioners with younger partners face winter fuel payment shock



Thousands of pensioners with younger partners will be worse off this year after Labour cut the winter fuel allowance.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have blamed their decision to scale back winter fuel payments on a £22bn black hole in public finances. About 10 million pensioners will lose the benefit, worth up to £300, as a result.

The payments will only go to retirees claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits this winter – but some pensioners will not be eligible because they have a younger partner.

Pensioners with a partner of working age are blocked from accessing pension credit. So-called “mixed age” couples used to qualify for pension credit – worth on average £3,900 per year – once the older person reached state pension age. But under rules introduced in 2019, they must now wait until the younger person is old enough.

As a result, an estimated 60,000 couples cannot claim pension credit. Now, thousands of them will also lose out on help with their energy bills this winter.

However, some may be able to keep the payments provided they can claim Universal Credit instead.

Pension credit is only paid to retirees with a weekly income of less than £218.15.

Kate Smith, of pensions firm Aegon, said: “This is a rather unfortunate ‘cliff edge‘ of the rules which could leave thousands of ‘mixed age’ couples out in the cold this winter.”

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, of consultants LCP, said: “Following recent changes, couples with one partner over pension age and one under now come under the less generous working age benefits system.

“If they are on a very low income they may still qualify for Universal Credit* (UC) and be able to retain their winter fuel payment, but the income cut-off for UC is very low.

“As a result, there will be low income pensioners who miss out on their winter fuel payment purely because they have a partner under pension age.”

*Only if one of them is working. They're unable to claim Housing Benefit either.

It gets even more complicated if one or other partner is disabled.

[rebbonk]

Thoughts are that he's using this as a smokescreen to take flack from other unpopular things and that he will 'flip' and reinstate it at the last minute.

I remain to be convinced.

[rebbonk]

According to the Daily Mail, Mr Flip-Flop will now allow a parliamentary debate. This might get interesting!

[dutchman]

Cynical, the debate is on the same day as the latest wage settlement figures suggest a rise in the basic state pension of around £400 a year which will deflect much of the criticism!

[dutchman]

Government faces threat of leak inquiry over state pension rise reports



Downing Street is facing the threat of a leak inquiry over reports that the state pension is set to rise by more than £400 next year.

The Tories are poised to raise concerns with the statistics watchdog that the Government briefed out sensitive labour market figures.

On Wednesday the BBC reported on internal Treasury analysis which it said showed the state pension is set to rise by another £400 from next April.

The briefing also inadvertently revealed average wage increases for May to July – a figure which has not yet been published – are set to come in at 3.5 per cent.

The figures emerged as Rachel Reeves battles growing criticism of her decision to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from 10 million pensioners.

The Chancellor has attempted to stymy internal opposition to the plan by pointing to the big rises in the state pension as a result of the Triple Lock.

Tory shadow ministers are now preparing to ask the UK Statistics Authority whether the leak has breached any rules on access to sensitive economic data.

A source said: “The decision by the Labour Party to distribute provisional internal figures to the media as a smokescreen for the furor erupting over their decision to cut winter fuel payments is a damning indictment of the ethics at the heart of this Labour Government.”

Some statistics are provided to the Treasury ahead of their release, but the rules say they must only be disclosed to “an eligible person”.

[dutchman]

Labour may not even honour the triple-lock, citing an unusually high increase in wages.

And the Tories are in no position to complain as they did exactly the same thing!

[dutchman]

Labour pressured MP to withdraw motion on winter fuel payments



Whips acting for Sir Keir Starmer have pressured a new Labour MP to withdraw a motion brought to the House of Commons that calls on ministers to delay scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Withdrawing an “early-day motion” after it has been published and gained signatures would be a rare step, and indicates how seriously the government is taking the prospect of a rebellion at a crucial vote next Tuesday.

Whips in the Labour office this week contacted Neil Duncan-Jordan [pictured], a former campaigner for pensioners who won the seat of Poole at the July election, to request that he take it down, according to three people briefed on the discussion.

Ten Labour MPs, including figures on the left of the party such as Clive Lewis and Kim Johnson, as well as three members of the new 2024 intake, have so far signed the motion, which aims to delay the measure.

Senior members of the Labour government are growing increasingly uneasy about a mutiny over its decision to save £1.5bn by scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners who do not receive benefits, a proposal that would end support for around 10mn people.

Although the government majority in the Commons means the measure is unlikely to be defeated, a significant rebellion by Labour figures would be a major blow to Starmer’s authority less than three months after he won a landslide in the July election.

Duncan-Jordan, who won his Poole constituency with a majority of just 18 votes, worked for many years for a pensioner pressure group, the National Pensioners Convention, and then as a regional officer for Unison, the union.

His motion calls on the government to postpone ending the winter fuel payments and instead establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty.

Duncan-Jordan declined the whip’s request to rescind the motion, the three people said. When contacted by the Financial Times, Duncan-Jordan declined to comment.

Andrew Mitchell, former Conservative chief whip, said: “This is most unusual. It would be clearly humiliating for anyone with the privilege of being an MP to bow down in front of such crude tactics.”

Downing Street and the whips’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

The fuel payments cutback was announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in July as one of the “painful decisions” needed to close what she claimed was a £22bn fiscal hole.

Labour peers including former cabinet minister Lord David Blunkett have also strongly attacked the plan at a private meeting on Wednesday, according to people who attended.

The Tories are seeking to capitalise on internal Labour party discontent over the policy with their own vote on scrapping the policy in the commons next Tuesday, when the extent of the rebellion is likely to be laid bare.

Kim Johnson, who has signed the non-binding early day motion, said: “I would urge the government not to push [the policy] through next week, and look at postponing it for a few months”.

She warned that it was viewed by her constituents in Liverpool Riverside — one of the most deprived seats in the country — as the “Labour party not acting like the Labour party”.

She added: “Go after the richest 1 per cent rather than people that are struggling: that makes far more sense.”

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, one of the sponsors of the motion, said dozens of MPs had expressed worry and upset about the policy, including one who approached her in tears.

Maskell, who said she was afraid the plan could lead to excess deaths this winter, said she had been in contact with the whips and Reeves directly asking them to rethink the policy.