Keir Starmer’s winter fuel payment cuts ‘could KILL 4,000 people – according to Labour’s own research’
SIR Keir Starmer's winter fuel payment cuts could kill thousands of pensioners, according to Labour's own research, it is claimed.
The Prime Minister is facing growing rebellion this week over axing the benefit worth up to £300 for 10 million OAPs.
He doubled down on refusing to offer any more concessions to the elderly as the Government insist they have to fill a £22 billion black hole.
And is adamant pensioners will still be able to afford their bills despite the loss of funds.
Labour published analysis during its 2017 election campaign, when Sir Keir was in the Shadow Cabinet, warning such a much could sound the death knell for many.
It warned Tory plans to cut the allowance for 10 million elderly people would see a rise in excess deaths by 3,850 that winter, reports the .
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The report called Theresa May's later abandoned proposal the "single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation".
A Labour MP told the Mail: "This is blatant hypocrisy. All those now reversing Gordon Brown's winter fuel allowance were Labour MPs when we fought against Theresa May's government's plans to scrap it in 2017.
"Times change but the basic ethos and political principles of the largest parties should not be quite as interchangeable."
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STRUGGLING pensioners are already reeling from the loss of their winter fuel allowance to help fund Labour’s mad dash for net zero.
But it will infuriate them even more to hear that among the big winners from Ed Miliband’s £1.5billion spree on UK wind farms and solar energy projects are Iberdrola boss Ignacio Sanchez Galan, who has three luxury homes in Spain, one costing nearly £10million alone, and Orsted CEO Mads Nipper, who lives in a £3.4million mansion in Denmark.
Their windfall from Ed Miliband’s back-of-a-fag-packet energy plan only adds insult to injustice for pensioners now condemned to shiver through the UK’s cold winter months.
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Referring to the proposal, Sir Keir said: "We're going to have to be unpopular. Tough decisions are tough decisions. Popular decisions aren't tough, they're easy.
"When we talk about tough decisions, I'm talking about the things that last government ran away from, the governments traditionally run away from."
Speaking to Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, he added: "I'm convinced that because they've run away from difficult decisions, we haven't got the change we need for the country."
What are the changes to the Winter Fuel Payments?
CHANCELLOR recently announced changes to the Winter Fuel Payments as part of Labour's cost-saving measures.
Starting this winter, the payments will be restricted to pensioners receiving Pension Credit or other low-income benefits.
Previously, the payments were universal for pensioners aged 66 and above, with amounts up to £300.
This shift is aimed at saving £1.4 billion, but critics, including charities, have warned that it could harm pensioners struggling with rising energy costs.
“I’m not going to apologise for this, but I do recognise how difficult it is for some people.”
The PM also refused to be drawn on whether Labour MPs threatening to rebel in tomorrow's vote would be kicked out of the party.
Up to 50 MPs are thought to be struggling to support the policy, with around 30 expected to refuse to back Sir Keir.
Most of these are likely abstain rather than vote against.
It follows seven Labour MPs losing the whip in July after voting in favour of a SNP amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The PM added: "I am absolutely clear in my own mind that we can't bring about that change if we don't fix the fundamentals and stabilise our economy.
"Equally clear in my mind, in order to deliver the change which we will deliver, we have to fix the foundations now. And that's tough decisions."
He went on to say it is right to change an "untargeted" system that sees winter payments go to millionaires.
“Everybody thought that wasn’t a particularly good system, so it needed to be targeted,” he insisted.
The triple lock policy will see the state pension rise around £400 in the spring, with Sir Keir confident OAPs won't be worse off.
He said: "What I can guarantee for the state pension is that the increase under this government will outstrip any reduction in the winter fuel payment."
Speaking to the BBC this morning, Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said the Government is looking at options to soften the impact of taking away the Winter Fuel Payments in the October Budget.
Pressed on several measures that would see pensioners being means tested in different ways, Dame Diana said: "I am
sure that across Government, all these measures are being looked at.
"And of course, we have a Budget coming up in October as well.
"So I am absolutely confident that this is being looked at.
"We all understand how difficult this is. It's difficult for members of Parliament.
"I know myself, I have received lots of representations from constituents, lots of emails.
"People are very exercised by this, and we need to make sure that we do everything we can to mitigate what you are describing."
Meanwhile, the head of the UK's largest trade union accused Labour of having decided to "pick the pocket of pensioners" while leaving the richest "totally untouched".
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, urged Sir Keir Starmer to “do a U-turn” on the policy, which would see winter fuel payments restricted to only the poorest pensioners.
She told the BBC’s Today programme: “We need to make sure that he is making the right choices and leadership is about choices. He needs to be big enough and brave enough to do a U-turn on this choice. It’s completely wrong."
Former Tory pensions minister Baroness Altmann, who is trying to kill the decision in the Lords, warned 800,000 pensioners are at risk of being left in the cold.
She told Times Radio: "The very poorest pensioners are not, I repeat, are not going to still keep their winter fuel payments.
"The very poorest are those who the government already knows, over 800,000 households who are eligible for pension credit but don't claim it, so they won't get it.
"They are the very poorest.
"And those who are slightly above the means test threshold. and again there's one to two million of those, we estimate, who also won't get the winter fuel payment and won't get the additional money that those on pension credit can also receive in terms of housing, cost help and council tax benefits and so on.
"And they are poorer than those on pension credit and there is no mitigation for them."
Her comments come after Health Secretary Wes Streeting also revealed he isn't "remotely happy" about the decision.
OAPs who are entitled to Pension Credit are being told to apply for it to soften the financial blow.
Streeting said: "I think it is a tough choice, and we've had plenty of political criticism for it, I think, which demonstrates the political pain of it.
"I'm not remotely happy about it, and I'm not remotely happy about having to say to some of my constituents, I'm sorry that I'm going into work this week to vote for something that will take money away from you."
Meanwhile, Labour MP Racheal Maskell who has been one of the government's biggest critics on this issue said: "The mitigation put in by the government is insufficient."
She added: “We have to go back to why Gordon Brown introduced this.
"He was emphatic that he didn’t want people to go cold over winter - we absolutely should uphold those values."
Former Tory pensions minister Ros Altmann has tabled a ";fatal motion" which could see the cuts blocked in the House of Lords.
Altmann warned millions of poor pensioners who depend on payments of up to £300 could suffer this winter.
She told the : "These are some of the frailest and most vulnerable people in the country.
"They are easy targets to pick upon. Many of them won’t or can’t demonstrate or make a fuss.
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"Nobody warned about taking away £300 quid from them, just as winter is coming and energy costs are going up again."
Altmann added: "It was never, ever mentioned in the Labour manifesto."
Labour accused of ‘punishing pensioners’
By Ryan Sabey
MINISTERS risked a major backlash as a “routine” £400 planned rise in the state pension doesn’t make up for the winter fuel allowance axe.
Treasury internal analysis reveals they expect the benefit to go up by average earnings which will kick in next April for millions of elderly Brits.
The measure means the overall increase in incomes for OAPs is likely to be £100 or £200.
Tory leader Rishi Sunak used a heated Prime Minister's Questions to question why Sir Keir Starmer decided to give train drivers a pay hike - while cutting the benefit.
He said: "The government doesn’t have to choose to take money off low paid pensioners and give it to highly paid train drivers. He can't justify it.
"Government is about making choices, and the new Prime Minister has made a choice.
"(He) has chosen to take the winter fuel allowance away from low-income pensioners and give that money to certain unionised workforces in inflation-busting pay rises.
"So can I just ask the Prime Minister, why did he choose train drivers over Britain's vulnerable pensioners?"
The PM said: "This Government was elected to clear up the mess left by the party opposite, to bring about the change that the country desperately needs. Our first job was to audit the books, and what we found was a £22 billion black hole."
The criticism comes as Labour MP Rachael Maskell has suggested she can’t vote with the government to end the universal winter fuel cash.
She told the BBC: “I couldn’t vote for this, but I think what we are saying, this is bigger than a vote because this is about protecting people’s lives and ultimately that is our responsibility as MPs, to speak to truth to power.
“That is all we are doing is to say actually there are some people in danger here, that are at risk, and we need the Government to step in like Gordon Brown did when he introduced the winter fuel payment.”