It’s the first day back in parliament after recess and already Labour splits are starting to emerge. Now it transpires that the party’s MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan, has tabled an early day motion to delay the changes to the winter fuel allowance – which his government controversially plans to means test. In order to plug the £22bn blackhole in the UK’s finances, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that ‘incredibly tough choices’ will have to be made – yet the prospect of 10 million pensioners missing out on the winter payment has ruffled feathers, given Sir Keir’s lefty lot curiously managed to find enough cash to fund public sector pay rises…
Duncan-Jordan’s motion slams the proposed regulations for the winter fuel payment for being ‘introduced without prior consultation or an impact assessment, nor with sufficient time to put in place a proper and effective take-up campaign for Pension Credit’. The Labour MP then goes on to blast the planned introduction of a ‘bureaucratic and unpopular means test, which undermines the benefits over universalism’. Oo er. He adds:
[It] fails to take account of the modest incomes of those who are just above the entitlement threshold to pension credit, and needs to acknowledge the worrying annual excess winter death figures among pensioners.
And the Poole MP is not alone with his fears about the move. Starmer has been criticised by his political opponents both north and south of the border over the cut, with Tory leadership contender Priti Patel slamming the decision on Friday as a ‘nasty financial assault’ on pensioners. Meanwhile Labour’s new Member of Parliament for Lowestoft, Jessica Asato, has even written to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, to lament the policy – with Sky News reporting that she wants to ‘widen’ the number of people eligible to claim the allowance. Talk about trouble in paradise…
So will Starmer Chameleon will U-turn on the measure? On BBC 5 Live this afternoon, the PM only doubled down after being quizzed on whether Labour MPs up in arms over the winter payment should ‘calm down and brace for more of this’. ‘They do – and there’s tough decisions to come,’ Starmer hit back firmly. And undoubtedly tough conversations to be had with, er, those backbenchers going off-message…
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