Trade unions are stepping up their pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to restore winter fuel payments to all pensioners. Leading unions, including Unite, Usdaw and PCS, are among those at the forefront of the demands, asking the government to reverse their plan denying 10 million pensioners as much as £300.
A motion to formally oppose this Labour policy will be voted on at the forthcoming TUC conference, and several officials anticipate that the motion will be passed. If it succeeds, that would put more pressure than ever on Labour’s leadership to climb down on winter fuel payments, as it continues to attract opposition from within the party itself.
Powerful interventions by unions have increased the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to either ditch the policy or revise it so that poorer pensioners are not hit harder than others. Labour has defended the decision as a necessary one to help balance the public finances, but critics say the cuts would hit some of the most vulnerable members of society hard.
Commenting on the planned cuts, Fran Heathcote, PCS general secretary said, “Morally, it was the wrong thing to do. It is something they can very easily put right.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, was similarly scathing of Labour’s approach. She told the BBC: “Why are Labour picking the pockets of pensioners on the winter fuel payments instead of making those with the broadest shoulders actually pay?”
This controversy comes amid claims that Downing Street has already caved into union pressure in other areas, agreeing to a series of above-inflation pay settlements to end long-running strikes. Now, the same pressure is mounting on the government’s ‘controversial’ winter fuel payments.
A vote in the House of Commons is expected on Tuesday, and more than a dozen Labour MPs have expressed their opposition to the current approach. One Treasury source told The Telegraph, “It’s really difficult, but it’s necessary to begin to repair the public finances.”
The TUC, which groups together Britain’s trade unions, will hold its first conference since Labour took power, from Sunday to Wednesday in Brighton. It will be filled with union representatives pushing their top leaders to demand a slew of policy changes, including for Labour to hike capital gains tax and to roll back more anti-strike laws.
The PCS union, representing civil servants including those responsible for administering the winter fuel payments, has succeeded in forcing an amendment to be voted on at the TUC conference, opposing the cuts. Fran Heathcote of the PCS said: “We deal first-hand with pensioners in receipt of winter fuel payments currently. We know how much they rely on them. If you take those payments away, people will have to make really hard decisions about heating their homes and eating.”
The Treasury has continued to defend this decision, referring to the £22bn “black hole” in public spending that it had inherited. It argues that the £1.5 billion saved each year by cutting universal winter fuel payments is vital for balancing the budget.
Speaking from Downing Street’s gardens, Keir Starmer warned that the upcoming October budget would be “painful,” hinting Brits should expect tax rises in the short term to fix “societal rot.”
