Keir Starmer’s first Labour conference as Prime Minister has ended in humiliation after delegates backed a motion condemning cuts to winter fuel payments. The Prime Minister has faced a backlash over his plan to scrap universal payments to help elderly people with their fuel bills. Starmer’s changes mean that only those who get pension credit will continue to receive the payments. Now Labour delegates have voted against the plan to means test the handout. What a fitting way to conclude a conference mired in endless scandal, eh?
Unions teamed up in Liverpool to put forward a motion against cuts to the winter fuel allowance, with the Communication Workers Union joining forces with Unite to push back against the PM’s plans. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham received a standing ovation after she took to the stage to protest the cuts. ‘This is not what people voted for,’ she cried to the crowd. ‘It’s the wrong decision and it needs to be reversed.’
Proclaiming that the 1945 Labour manifesto had ‘no mention of cuts’, Graham raged:
People certainly do not understand and I do not understand how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched… Labour is now in government, and we can’t keep making everyday people pay.
Oh dear. While the vote is non-binding, the result is a blow for Sir Keir Starmer who has come under criticism from those on the left of his party for the ongoing freebie fiasco. Outspoken Labour veteran Diane Abbott has already accused the Prime Minister’s top team of being ‘in the pocket of millionaires’ – and today’s vote against cuts to winter payments demonstrates the souring of the party’s mood towards the Labour leader. Will Starmer now row back on his plans for pensioners in next month’s budget?
Comments