State pensioners born beofre September 22 1944 receive £300 in the Winter Fuel Payment, but those born from 1944 to September 1958 receive £100 less – £200.State pensioners born beofre September 22 1944 receive £300 in the Winter Fuel Payment, but those born from 1944 to September 1958 receive £100 less - £200.State pensioners born beofre September 22 1944 receive £300 in the Winter Fuel Payment, but those born from 1944 to September 1958 receive £100 less – £200.

The Winter Fuel Allowance is being reduced by £100 for state pensioners born after 1944. State pensioners born beofre September 22 1944 receive £300 in the Winter Fuel Payment, but those born from 1944 to September 1958 receive £100 less – £200.

Labour Party government leader Sir Keir Starmer is known around the world for taking winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners, a top economist has said.

Paul Johnson, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), told Times Radio: “I was talking to the head of an international insurance company recently who said that the one thing everyone around the world knows about this government is that it’s taking money away from helping the cost of fuel for pensioners.

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“So it’s one of those things which actually from a sort of fiscal point of view is pretty small but has turned out, I think, to be much bigger from a political and reputational point of view than the government expected.”

Ros Jones, who was narrowly re-elected as mayor of Doncaster, beating the Reform candidate by just under 700 votes, told the BBC: “I wrote as soon as the winter fuel allowance was actually mooted.

“And I said it was wrong, and therefore I stepped in immediately and used our household support fund to ensure no-one in Doncaster went cold during the winter.”

Sir Keir defended the “tough decisions” he has taken in power in the wake of the by election defeat last week, at the hands of Reform.

He added: “Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn’t there … I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable.”

The prime minister went on: “Yes, they were tough decisions, they were the right decisions. Because of those decisions we are now seeing waiting lists coming down, something people desperately want.

“Because of that, pensioners are now £470 up as of last month. These are really important changes we’ve brought about, but yes, they’re political choices.”