Pensioners furious at losing their winter fuel payments should focus their anger on the Tories rather than Labour, Rachel Reeves was tonight.
The Chancellor defended the decision to make the £300 payments means-tested ahead of a vote in the Commons tomorrow expected to see a major Labour rebellion.
The government has come under attack from the left and right, from unions to the Tories, over the cut, which has sparked warnings that pensioners may die from cold rather than turn on their heating this winter.
But addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) tonight Ms Reeves said pensioners were already £900 better off thanks to a state pension rise this year.
And she warned there were more ‘more difficult decisions to come’, adding: ‘When [party] members are looking at where to apportion blame, when pensioners are looking where to apportion blame, I tell you where the blame lies.
‘It lies with the Conservatives and the reckless decisions that they made.’
However, leftwing MP Richard Burgon told LBC: ‘These cuts will result in the deaths of pensioners who won’t be able to turn the heating on.’
He and other MPs suspended by Labour for rebelling against a refusal to increase child benefits say they will vote against the winter fuel measure.
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) tonight Ms Reeves said pensioners were already £900 better off thanks to a state pension rise this year. However, leftwing MP Richard Burgon told LBC: ‘These cuts will result in the deaths of pensioners who won’t be able to turn the heating on.’
The government has come under attack from the left and right, from unions to the Tories, over the cut, which has sparked warnings that pensioners may die from cold rather than turn on their heating this winter.
Sir Keir is scrambling to minimise a damaging rebellion after being forced to call a Commons vote on the measure tomorrow.
The government had originally tried to dodge a confrontation by using a so-called ‘negative resolution’. But up to 50 MPs are now thought to be considering whether to break ranks.
Labour’s own research has suggested thousands of pensioners could die if winter fuel payments are cut.
A shocking analysis was published in 2017 – when Sir Keir Starmer sat in the Shadow Cabinet.
It warned that Conservative plans to axe the allowance for 10 million elderly voters would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.
And it called Theresa May’s proposal, which was later abandoned, the ‘single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country’.
The revelation has sparked accusations of ‘blatant hypocrisy’ from Labour’s own MPs as the party now forces through the deeply unpopular means-testing of the energy bill subsidy.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said he had ‘real concerns’ about the policy
Unions have joined condemnation of stripping the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners as Keir Starmer faces a revolt from dozens of MPs.
Demands for a U-turn have been growing as union chiefs – many of whom fund Labour – gather for their annual conference in Brighton.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused the government of ‘picking the pocket of pensioners’ while leaving the wealthiest ‘untouched’. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the plan was ‘wrong’ and had to be dropped.
‘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,’ she said.
‘People do not understand how a Labour government has decided to pick the pocket of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society totally untouched. That is wrong and he needs to change course.’
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: ‘I’ve got real concerns about the cuts to winter fuel allowance because I don’t want any pensioner going into this winter worried about putting the heating on.
‘That’s why I hope in the Budget the Chancellor will set out the support that she’ll make available to those pensioners who … aren’t well off by any means. To make sure that they’re not frightened to use the heating this winter.
‘But I think it’s fair to say the Chancellor’s got a huge range of challenges. She’s been bequeathed a toxic economic legacy by the previous government. There’s lots of things that she needs to fix. The state of our public services, the fact that we’ve got a universal credit system that’s not fit for purpose.’
There was fresh confusion this morning after policing minister Diana Johnson suggested Chancellor Rachel Reeves is looking at ways of softening the impact of the cut on pensioners. But Treasury sources told MailOnline that was not the case.
Sir Keir hailed a rise in applications for pensioner benefits today as he struggled to defend axing winter fuel payments.
Downing Street said 38,500 had signed up for pension credit over the past five weeks – compared to 17,900 in the same period before that.
The government have been trying to boost historically poor take-up after dramatically scaling back winter fuel allowance worth up to £300, so that only those on pension credit are eligible.
However, the bump in claims by those on incomes of under £11,400 compares to around 10million who are losing the seasonal sum to help with heating.
The PM’s spokesman insisted the Cabinet is united behind the policy today despite a mounting backlash.
