Starmer’s winter fuel U-turn is a big mistake

One of Keir Starmer’s first mistakes in office was to remove the winter fuel allowance from all pensioners other than those in receipt of pension credit. His latest big error is performing a U-turn and telling us that the government is, after all, looking at loosening the eligibility criteria, so that many more pensioners will qualify for the money next winter.

How can both these things be true? Because the former was a political error, the latter an economic one. The optics of removing the winter fuel allowance at a time when millions of public sector workers were receiving large pay rises was terrible. It looked as if Starmer was declaring intergenerational war – as indeed many young left-wing activists would love him to do. Yet doesn’t mean that the cut should be reversed now. By doing so Starmer is signalling that he has no backbone.