\n\t\t\t\t\tTalks in No 10 about reversing the policy accelerated this week as party turmoil grows\u00a0\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
A pensioner with diabetes has said that if Labour reverses its decision to means-test winter fuel payments, it would only be to fend off the threat of Reform UK, rather than help pensioners.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> is considering reversing the controversial policy, which restricted winter fuel payments to those claiming pension credit<\/a>\u00a0and other income-related benefits, The i Paper understands. <\/p>\n The move, which aimed to save \u00a31.4bn, meant around nine million\u00a0pensioners<\/a> no longer qualified for the annual allowance, worth between \u00a3100 and \u00a3300.<\/p>\n The decision sparked backlash within Labour and is believed to have helped Reform make sweeping gains in the local elections. <\/p>\n Talks in No 10 about reversing the policy accelerated this week, after focus groups indicated voters would not necessarily bear a grudge against the Government if it performed a partial or full U-turn.<\/p>\n Ministers are considering plans to increase the \u00a311,500 income threshold<\/a> over which pensioners no longer qualify for the allowance, meaning a larger number of people would be eligible for the payments.<\/p>\n But Kevin Day, 68, said that any reversal of the winter fuel cuts would seek to regain voters from Reform\u00a0after its strong performance in the local elections<\/a>, where\u00a0Nigel Farage\u2019s<\/a> party won 10 county councils and two mayoralties, as well as narrowly winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018I used to vote for Labour but not now\u2019 <\/p>\n Mr Day, from Hertfordshire<\/a>, told The i Paper he has voted Labour since he was 18, but chose the Green Party at the local elections in protest of Starmer\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n The father-of-two, who missed out on the winter fuel payment<\/a> after the cuts, said what angered him most was that the policy was not in Labour\u2019s manifesto.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was done on the sly,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was basically imposed on people.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he would vote Labour at the next general election, he said: \u201cI don\u2019t think you can trust them.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the only reason I\u2019d vote Labour is to keep Reform out.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the moment, I\u2019m inclined to vote Green<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to reports the Government is considering a U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts, Mr Day said it would simply compound his \u201cfeelings about the leadership of the Labour Party at the moment\u201d, citing its tendency to backtrack on previous commitments.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI accept that if you make a mistake, owning up to the mistake and changing direction is a good thing to do<\/p>\n \u201cBut they have not owned up to the mistake. They are being pushed to make a change because they are losing so many votes to Reform.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are trying to pander to both sides. On the one hand they want to stop immigration.<\/p>\n \u201cNow they\u2019re talking about opening the doors to people under 30 through a potential youth mobility scheme with the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems that they want their cake and eat it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Day said any decision by Labour to reverse the cuts will not \u201crecover the votes that they\u2019ve lost \u2013 people have moved ground\u201d,\u201d he added.\u201d<\/p>\n Two-child benefit cap changes<\/p>\n Senior government figures told\u00a0The Sunday Times<\/a> Labour is also considering reversing its two-child benefit cap, which prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children.<\/p>\n No decisions on changes to the winter fuel allowance have yet been made. Some sources suggested Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/a> could announce the changes as soon\u00a0as the\u00a0Spending Review\u00a0<\/a>on 11 June.<\/p>\n Adding to the backlash sparked by the winter fuel cuts, at least two letters were circulated last week setting out MPs\u2019 concerns over the impact of the benefit reforms on claimants, which include plans to cut personal independence payments (PIP) for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n Around 80 MPs are believed to have signed the letters, including Labour and suspended former Labour MPs from the traditional left of the party, such as veteran Diane Abbott and Leeds MP Richard Burgon.<\/p>\n The letters warned Downing Street that MPs will oppose the reforms when they come to be voted on in the Commons in June.<\/p>\n The DWP has been contacted for a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talks in No 10 about reversing the policy accelerated this week as party turmoil grows\u00a0 A pensioner with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[345,51,474,8414,3126,2499,16,15,22334],"class_list":{"0":"post-112525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-benefits","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-pensioners","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-winter-fuel-payment"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114530612838336778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}