Labour’s previous stance on winter fuel payments has resurfaced, putting Prime Minister Keir Starmer under scrutiny as his government prepares for a controversial vote on cutting the benefit.
Tomorrow, MPs will vote on the government’s plan to restrict winter fuel allowances, limiting them to only the most vulnerable pensioners, leaving around 10 million elderly people without the payment of up to £300 this winter.
The proposal has sparked significant backlash, with up to 50 Labour MPs considering rebelling or abstaining from the vote. The debate has been further complicated by Labour’s own research from 2017, which condemned a similar plan under then-Prime Minister Theresa May.
At the time, Starmer was in the shadow cabinet, and Labour’s research warned that cutting the winter fuel allowance could lead to thousands of excess deaths. The party declared that the proposal represented the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation.”
Labour’s analysis estimated that May’s plan would result in an additional 3,850 deaths over the winter and credited the introduction of the allowance in 1997 with helping to reduce excess winter deaths by 10,000 between 2000 and 2012.
The Conservative government ultimately dropped the proposal, but the resurgence of this past criticism has cast a shadow over Starmer’s current leadership, as he now faces similar accusations for pushing through a nearly identical policy.
Defending the decision, Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson described it as a “tough” but necessary measure to address the £22bn gap in public finances. Starmer echoed this sentiment during an interview with the BBC, stating that his government must accept being “unpopular” to stabilise the economy.
The impending vote is set to test Starmer’s control over his party, with growing dissent from backbenchers who argue that cutting the winter fuel allowance could disproportionately harm pensioners during a cost-of-living crisis.
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