Rayner: ‘Can’t guarantee’ winter fuel payments will be on time for this winter
Keir Starmer announced a partial U-turn on the winter fuel payments this week, but the extent of the reversal is not yet clear. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Angela Rayner said changes to the cuts would happen ‘as the economic situation improves’, but refused to confirm whether the payments could be restored to all pensioners. When asked if the payments would come through before winter, Rayner said she couldn’t guarantee it, because it ‘has to come through a fiscal event and the chancellor’. Kuenssberg suggested the government’s approach had been ‘cack-handed’. Rayner claimed that the government had been forced to ‘secure the finances’ when they took office, but improvements to the economy have allowed them to make changes. She refused to speculate on when the chancellor might outline the plans more specifically.
Kemi Badenoch: ‘Lots of people will chase polls’
Nigel Farage is expected to appeal to left-wing voters in a speech next week in which he’ll commit to restoring winter fuel payments to all pensioners and scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
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