Reform UK leader Nigel Farage delivered a petition to Downing Street on Monday demanding the government of Sir Keir Starmer scrap plans to cut winter fuel aid payments to pensioners.
“I have made it my mission to fight Labour’s vindictive attack on pensioners,” Mr Farage said as he handed in a petition to Number 10 “demanding that [Prime Minister Starmer] reverses the winter fuel cuts.”
To help cover the disputed £22 billion “black hole” in the budget supposedly left by the previous Tory government, Starmer has argued that the nation needs to make “tough” decisions, including cutting subsidies for elderly people to keep their homes warm during the winter months.
Although the cuts will not apply to those claiming pension credit or other benefits, around 10 million pensioners are set to lose out on the payment. According to the government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), around 780,000 pensioners are expected not to receive the subsidy as they are unlikely to apply for other benefits.
The analysis also found that 90 per cent of those between the ages of 66 and 79 will no longer receive the fuel assistance, while 80 per cent of those over 80 will as well. However, because people over 80 receive a higher payout of £300 compared to $200 for under-80s, octogenarians are likely to feel the financial squeeze more.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Starmer has claimed that pensioners will still be “better off” under his leftist Labour government, claiming that the cuts will be offset by a rise in state pensions next year.
Mr Farage has previously argued that the winter fuel aid payments to pensioners are necessary to offset the high energy prices experienced in Britain, which he attributed to the green agenda imposed on the country by both Labour and Conservative governments.
“[We] insist on not producing our own natural gas, we insist on not producing as much oil as we consume, we insist on not producing coal in this country, which is needed for proper steel manufacturing, and the fact we’ve cut our carbon emissions and gone for renewables faster than anywhere else in the world [is] why our energy is so expensive,” the Reform UK leader argued last month.
Others have warned that the winter fuel aid cuts will lead to thousands more deaths of elderly people during the cold months of the year.
Rhian Bowen-Davies, the older people’s commissioner in Wales, said earlier this month that the cuts could result in up to “4,000 additional deaths this winter”.
The policy has proven deeply unpopular, with a Savanta survey commissioned by the Liberal Democrats finding that six in ten Britons (59 per cent) oppose the move to cut winter fuel aid to pensioners. Even among supporters of the governing Labour Party, 46 per cent said it was the wrong decision, while just 36 per cent supported the cuts.
Treasury spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP, said: “It beggars belief that the new Government are pushing ahead with this cut which will badly impact millions of the most vulnerable pensioners.
“Scrapping the winter fuel payment will be a monumental mistake for the new government, forcing some pensioners who are struggling to make ends meet, to choose between heating or eating this winter.”
