Labour conference backs call to reverse winter fuel payment cut

The Government has been urged to reverse its controversial decision to cut winter fuel allowance for many pensioners after a strong message was sent from Labour’s annual conference.

Delegates backed a union motion calling for the cut to be reversed, although the vote is not binding on the Government and ministers have made it clear the policy will not be changed.

Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham won several rounds of applause when she made a powerful plea for the allowance to be restored.

She told the Liverpool conference: “People simply do not understand, I do not understand, how our new Labour Government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super rich untouched.

“This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed.

“We are the sixth richest economy in the world. We have the money.

“Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two.

“We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt.

“Let’s hold up our heads and be proud to be Labour.

“Let’s put our arms round the working class and make lasting change.”

Ms Graham added: “Our public services and British industry need investment now.

“It’s no good having sympathy for workers at Grangemouth losing their jobs. They don’t need pity.

“They need Labour to step up to the plate and not allow a billionaire, who buys a football club as a hobby, to throw these workers on the scrap heap.

“We cannot leave Britain at the whim of footloose corporations. Hoping for them to invest is a prayer, not a plan.

“Yes, Britain is broken. Yes, the Tories have left a mess and yes, they are to blame. But Labour is now in Government, and we can’t keep making everyday people pay.”

Alan Tate, of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the winter fuel payment cut had “overshadowed” the work of the new Labour Government.

He said: “The CWU has been inundated with emails and calls from our retired members worried about choosing between heating and eating.”

From this winter, only people on pension credit or certain other benefits will receive the payments, worth up to £300, while about 10 million others are set to be stripped of the allowance.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall earlier said the Government had “done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years” as she defended the cuts.

She said: “Focusing winter fuel payments on the poorest pensioners wasn’t a decision we wanted or expected to make, but when we promised we could be trusted with taxpayers’ money – we meant it.

“And when we were faced with a £22 billion black hole, which the Tories left this year, we had to act, because we know what happened when Liz Truss played fast and loose with the public finances. It was working people and pensioners on fixed incomes who paid the highest price.

“We took what I know is a difficult decision, but let me tell you, this Labour Government has done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years.

“The biggest ever drive to get pensioners on pension credit, backed by our commitment to the pensions triple lock. This will increase the state pension by an estimated £1,700 this parliament, with an extra £6 billion of funding forecast next year.”

In a brief debate, Labour member Maggie Cosin said she did not need the winter fuel payment and the money should be used to help children and others in need.

The member from Dover and Deal Constituency Labour Party (CLP) told conference: “Every single year, £200 comes into my bank account and every year I go and buy stuff for the food bank with it.

“I don’t need it, the children of this country need it.”

Ms Cosin said there was a need to “sort the economy”, adding: “It’s not a matter of taking it away from poor pensioners, it’s a matter of giving it to others.”

Ellie Emberson, from Reading West and Mid Berkshire CLP and also a Unite member, added: “Unless we stabilise the economy we cannot invest in those public services we love.

“Yesterday (Sir Keir) Starmer spoke to the politics of easy answers and the necessity of country first, party second and whilst the introduction of winter fuel allowance means-testing is tough, Labour councillors sat in this hall have been making tough decisions for years.”

Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “Labour Conference has understood what ministers have failed to acknowledge, that removing the winter fuel payment at short notice and from so many people is wrong.

“If the Government persists with the cuts, it will be gambling with pensioners’ ability to keep warm this winter and with that, their health and well-being.”