Keir Starmer has offered “no apologies” as his government cuts winter fuel payments for over 10 million pensioners.
It was rejected by 348 to 228, a majority of 120, in a Conservative bid to defeat it. Labour has a working majority in the Commons of 167 at present. Jon Trickett was the only Labour MP to rebel and vote for the Conservative motion. Meanwhile, 52 other Labour MPs failed to record their vote although that does not necessarily mean all abstained, since some may have received permission to miss the vote.
Opposition benches erupted with cries of “shame” as the result was declared. It means that from this winter, only those receiving pension credit or other means-tested benefits will get help with their fuel bills – rather than anyone over 66 qualifying. The cutback will see the number of pensioners receiving up to £300 slashed from 11.4 million to just 1.5 million, saving the government around £1.4bn this year.
This decision was announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in July, as part of a wider plan to plug what she described as the “£22bn black hole” in public finances. However, the move has seen Labour MPs, charities, and opposition figures strongly criticise it, arguing this will make pensioners “forced into a heart-breaking choice between heating and eating this winter.”
Jon Trickett, the former member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, said in a statement via X, formerly known as Twitter: “I oppose the plan because I do not want to see more pensioners falling into poverty. This winter will be extremely difficult for my constituents of all ages. After years of obscene profiteering by energy companies, they are hiking bills once again,” he said. Trickett added that pensioner poverty “can be a matter of life and death,” noting his failed attempts to influence the government on the issue. “I could not in good conscience vote to make my constituents poorer.”
Other Labour MPs who expressed concern included Rachel Maskell, who said she feared pensioners might be too “frightened” by the cost to turn on the lights, and Debbie Abrahams, who opposed the timing of the policy given that many of the party’s measures to cut costs would not be in operation this winter. Maskell eventually abstained in the vote, while Abrahams voted with the government.
Trickett is likely to be suspended from the Labour Party given the vote was subject to a three-line whip. In July, seven Labour MPs were suspended after they voted against the government’s position on the two-child benefit cap – five of those MPs voted with the Tories including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
Mel Stride, Conservative shadow pensions secretary said the policy was “absurd” and would “cause untold hardship to millions”. He accused Labour of “avoiding proper scrutiny” by failing to produce an impact assessment while trying to “rush through” the policy in the hope it is forgotten ahead of the next general election. “This has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with political expediency,” he said in the Commons debate.
Emi Murphy, a warm homes campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “It’s not surprising, but it is disappointing that MPs didn’t block the government’s plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners, just a month before energy bills shoot up again and with the colder months inching closer.”
Labour ministers have, however, focused on the worse-than-expected state of public finances since coming to power in July. Earlier, the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, defended his decisions at the TUC conference: “I owe working people the respect of economic stability” and that he makes “no apologies for any of the decisions we’ve had to take to begin the work of change.”
