TUC congress: Don’t buy the myth that fossil fuel jobs are ‘miners of net zero’

Unions should support urgent action on climate change and a just transition for workers

Climate protesters marched through London (Picture: Guy Smallman)


By Thomas Foster in Brighton
Monday 09 September 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue

The planet is burning. But the TUC union federation narrowly passed a motion on Monday arguing to slow down the move away from fossil fuels.

The Unite GMB unions joined forces at TUC conference in Brighton to push through the policy that opposes a ban of any new fossil fuel licenses.

A speaker from the Unison union condemned the motion arguing, “There are no jobs on a dead planet.” “We can’t stand by and let the Global South suffer while we continue to use fossil fuels.”

The motion went as far as claiming that oil and gas workers could become the “miners of net zero”.


Sean Vernell, a UCU university and college union delegate, argued, “Who is the main enemy? It isn’t the environmental movement—and oil and gas workers aren’t the ‘miners of net zero’.”

The motion called upon congress “to do everything in its power to prevent oil and gas workers becoming the miners of net zero”.

Margaret Thatcher’s assault on the NUM miners’ union in 1984-85 had nothing to do with the environment or net zero.

It was an act of Tory class war to destroy one of the most unionised sectors in Britain.

A shift to sustainable and green production—with a just transition for workers—is something that benefits all working class people.

Sean added, “The motion talks about how geopolitical concerns mean we can’t abandon fossil fuels. But it is fossil fuels that are leading to the environmental catastrophe today.

“We need a workers’ plan to transition away from fossil fuels of course—but the speed is important.”


Tensions over Starmer at TUC union federation congress
Read More

Another delegate argued, “We all stand to lose from running away from climate change. The call should not be, ‘No ban without a plan,’ but, ‘A ban before we all go down the pan.’”

Delegates have another chance to vote for a progressive climate policy.

On Wednesday, delegates should vote for both the Unison union motion and the PCS union motion on climate change. They should oppose the GMB amendment that guts the PCS motion.

The motions put forward the need for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.

The need to act on the climate catastrophe is urgent—and unions should be at the forefront of that fight.

TUC votes to oppose ban on new oil and gas licenses until plan for ‘commensurate jobs for all North Sea workers’ is agreed

Delegates at the TUC Congress voted for a motion which also called for the building of Sizewell C

Chris Jarvis 

Sept. 8, 2024

Left Foot Forward

The TUC today voted to oppose a ban on new oil and gas licenses, until a ‘fully funded workers’ plan guaranteeing commensurate jobs for all North Sea workers’ is agreed. The vote took place at the TUC Congress in Brighton today.

The issue proved to be the most controversial debated so far at TUC Congress, with delegates split on the motion proposed by the Unite union. Delegates from unions including UCU and NEU spoke against the motion.

Speaking in favour of the motion, a Unite delegate said: “We demand a real industrial strategy built on expertise and experience of oil and gas workers”, adding: “This is the greatest challenge in energy in our lifetimes. We can show the world what a just transition looks like.”

A UCU delegate, speaking against the motion told the conference: “Fossil fuels are the key reason we have an ecological crisis today. More fossil fuels will mean more famine, more wildfires and more displaced populations across the globe.”

As the motion had no clear majority from delegates in the room, the motion was taken to a card vote. Delegates representing 2,712,000 trade union members backed the motion, with those representing 2,457,000 voting against it.

The motion – which was entitled ‘Industrial strategy, national security and a workers’ transition’ – also called for public ownership of energy companies and for the building of the Sizewell C nuclear plant.

A ban on new fossil fuel licenses was a key plank of Labour’s 2024 general manifesto.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: Gary Bembridge – Creative Commons


New oil and gas ban threatens jobs, unions warn

Becky Morton

BBC
Political reporter

PA Media

More than 30,000 jobs are under threat from the government's plans to ban new licences for oil and gas production in the UK, unions have warned.

Delegates at the TUC Congress in Brighton narrowly voted in support of a motion calling for no ban to be implemented before a fully funded plan guaranteeing comparable jobs for all North Sea workers is agreed.

Proposing the motion, Unite and the GMB - the country's second and third biggest unions - said while climate change did pose a risk, fossil fuels should not be abandoned until workers knew how their jobs would be protected.

However, other unions opposed the move, arguing there are "no jobs on a dead planet".

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: "The government has a non-negotiable commitment to securing a proud future for the North Sea.

"This includes setting up Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company headquartered in Scotland, which will invest in technologies that will make us a world-leader in industries that use the expertise of North Sea workers such as floating offshore wind and carbon capture and storage."

Keir Starmer facing flashpoints with the unions

Starmer vows to prevent oil communities withering

Cliff Bowen, who sits on Unite's executive council, told the conference the issue would be "the biggest test of Keir Starmer's mettle".

"Environmental action is required but exporting jobs, skills and destroying working class kids’ futures, while moving production abroad, is just burying our heads in the sand," he said.

Mr Bowen warned of "false promises of green jobs which never seem to materialise".

He compared the "cliff edge" facing North Sea workers to the fate of miners in the 1980s, when many of the country's pits were closed and communities saw unemployment rise.

However, the UK's largest union Unison, which represents workers providing public services, was among those to oppose the motion.

Unison's Jo Tapper told the conference the union supported the need for "a fair transition" to renewable energy, including a comprehensive jobs plan for workers in the fossil fuel industry.

"Workers in the energy sector rightly expect to be heard and protected. But climate change doesn’t only impact on energy workers," she said.

"There are no jobs on a dead planet."

She added: "Jobs and communities can and should be protected by the opportunities created by the rapid expansion of renewables."

In Labour's general election manifesto, the party said it would not revoke existing licences for oil and gas and ensure a "phased and responsible transition in the North Sea".

It said North Sea oil and gas production would be "with us for decades to come" and "managed in a way that does not jeopardise jobs".

However, the party pledged not to issue any new licences because "they will not take a penny off bills" and "will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis".

Meanwhile, delegates also voted overwhelmingly in favour of a wealth tax on the richest 1% of the population to help fund public services and the NHS.

Along with other union leaders, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warmly welcomed Labour's general election victory.

However, she told the conference that to "fix" the "broken" country left by the Conservatives, the government "need to do more than just move round the deckchairs".

UK
'Grim' September ahead with 6,000 steel and oil jobs to go

Simon Jack
Business editor, BBC News

Sept 9, 2024


The government is warning of a "grim" September with up to 6,000 jobs set to be cut across the steel and oil refining industries, the BBC understands.

A total of 2,800 jobs are set to go at Port Talbot in Wales, while up to 3,000 jobs are expected to be axed at British Steel in Scunthorpe. A further 400 will be cut at Scotland's Grangemouth oil refinery.

Unions' hopes that investment from a new Labour government could help limit job losses have largely been dashed, according to sources.

The government said it was facing "tough decisions" but added: "The solution isn’t writing a blank cheque to bail out the past, or to put taxpayers on the hook for the industrial challenges we’ve inherited."

Labour's manifesto promised a kitty of £2.5bn to revitalise the UK steel industry.

But the new government has taken a similar line to its predecessor by insisting that public money is only available to invest in new greener steel production facilities, rather than to subsidise large ongoing losses at carbon-intensive plants.

Both Tata, the Indian firm which owns Port Talbot and Jingye of China, which owns Scunthorpe, insist the plants are losing £1m a day.

The government is in talks to finalise a grant to Tata of £500m towards the £1.25bn cost of building an electric arc furnace which will eventually replace the last remaining blast furnace at Port Talbot.

Blast furnaces use coke in the process of creating "virgin" steel but the process generates carbon dioxide while electric arc furnaces are mostly used to melt down and repurpose scrap steel.

This process cannot replicate all grades of steel that are produced in blast furnaces, including some types used in construction and rail.

'It's going to feel grim'

At Port Talbot, the GMB and Community unions have presented members with a redundancy deal struck with Tata which would see workers receive 2.8 weeks of earnings for every year of service up to a maximum of 25 years.

Workers can also sign up to a one-year skills and re-training scheme during which they will be paid £27,000.

Union officials hope the number of immediate compulsory redundancies at the UK’s biggest steel works will end up being far lower than 2,800 as many workers who left recently have not been replaced. There have been more than 2,000 expressions of interest in the redundancy and re-training package being offered.

In Scunthorpe, prospects for workers have deteriorated more suddenly.

Unions had hoped that a government support package of up to £600m to Jingye would see one of its remaining blast furnaces remain open during the three years it took to build a new electric arc furnace.

That prospect has faded, according to union and government sources, meaning that up to 3,000 jobs could go.

Asked how the government felt about the next few weeks, a senior source said: "It's going to feel grim."

Unions have told the BBC that the closure of blast furnaces at both Port Talbot and Scunthorpe would leave the UK without the ability to make virgin steel.

But other industry voices have downplayed such vulnerabilities, pointing out that the coking coal and iron ore used in blast furnaces are imported from abroad, so importing some virgin steel would make little difference.

Meanwhile, an announcement is expected this month to confirm that Scotland’s only remaining oil refinery at Grangemouth will shut down early next year to become a less labour-intensive oil and gas import terminal.

Government promises to explore a sustainable future for the site based on the planned expansion of renewable energy in Scotland are not expected to come soon enough to save up to 400 jobs.

A government spokesman said: "Decarbonisation does not mean deindustrialisation and government will continue working in partnership with trade unions and business to support good, stable jobs and deliver economic growth."

A spokesperson for British Steel in Scunthorpe said bosses were in "ongoing discussions" with the government over its future operations.

"While progress continues, no final decisions have been made," they added.

The £13m Port Talbot funding released for those hit by steelworks job losses

It is part of a £100m transition board that was set up to help those affected by changes at the site

Lewis Smith

Local Democracy Reporter
 9 SEP 2024

The nearly four mile site is all many workers in the town have ever known (Image: Jonathan Myers)

Neath Port Talbot Council have said they are expecting to play a "key role" in supporting businesses and people affected by changes at Tata Steel moving forward after a recent release of funding from the UK government.

The announcement came from the council leader Steve Hunt at a full council meeting held on August 6, where he addressed members and informed them that an initial sum of £13.5 million had been released from the Tata Steel/ Port Talbot Transition Board fund.

The £100m transition board was set up in 2023 in order to help those affected by changes at the town's Tata steelworks site, with the first multi-million sum of funding being announced by Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens MP at a meeting in August.

It comes after the Indian based steel giants Tata closed one of the town's giant blast furnaces in July of 2024, with plans to close the second now expected to take place in the coming weeks.

A spokesperson for the transition board said: "This funding, which is the first release of UK government funding from the Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board fund, will support local businesses which are heavily reliant on Tata Steel as their primary customer, allowing them to turn towards new markets and customers where necessary.

"The funding will also be available to workers affected by the transition, allowing them to retrain or to learn new skills for the employment market."

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Steve Hunt, leader of Neath Port Talbot council added: "Our business support, employability and wider services have been supporting a growing number of businesses and individuals over recent months as the changes at the works has begun to impact.

"I am pleased that the new Secretary of State for Wales has taken immediate steps to release funding to enable agencies, like the council, to gear up for the increased number of businesses and people who will need help and support in the months ahead."

Keir Starmer vows to scrap Conservative-era laws which limited the right to strike as PM pledges no more vindictive and cheap attacks on the trade union movement

By Martin Beckford

DAILY MAIL
 9 September 2024 |

Sir Keir Starmer will today announce an end to 'cheap and vindictive' attacks by central government on the trade union movement.

In the first speech by a Prime Minister to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference in 15 years, he will vow to scrap Conservative-era laws that limited the right to strike.

He will promise the biggest expansion of workers' rights in a generation, insisting that unions and businesses need not be at odds.


Sir Keir will also claim that he will not risk economic stability by giving unions everything they want in pay, despite having agreed bumper deals for train drivers and junior doctors.

The PM is expected to tell delegates at the TUC in Brighton: 'It is time to turn the page - business and unions, the private and public sector, united by a common cause to rebuild our public services and grow our economy.

Keir Starmer (pictured on Sunday) will be the first Prime Minister in 15 years to give a speech to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference

Tory business and trade spokesman Kevin Hollinrake warned Labour risked rewiring the economy back to a time where union bosses held the country to ransom in the 1970s

'Higher growth, higher wages, higher productivity. The shared purpose of partnership as the path through the mess the Tories made and onwards to national renewal.'

But last night Tory business and trade spokesman Kevin Hollinrake said: 'If Keir Starmer cared about working with businesses he would listen to the howls of opposition from business leaders about his plans to strengthen the unions and force unworkable proposals on employers that will cost jobs.

'Instead, he is just doing his union paymasters' bidding, raising taxes and drowning businesses in a tidal wave of new French-style rules and red tape.

'Labour must change course now or they risk rewiring the economy back to a time where union bosses held the country to ransom.'

Mr Hollinrake added: 'Labour are plotting to rip up vital protections for workers who want to keep working, dragging Britain back to the dark days of the 1970s.'

Labour’s 1978-79 Winter of Discontent saw strikes by waste collectors which led to rubbish filling London’s streets

Aslef picket line outside Reading Station in April during crippling rail strikes

In his speech, Sir Keir will set out details of the Employment Rights Bill promised in the first 100 days of his administration.

It will give workers the right to demand flexible hours from their first day in new jobs as well as the 'right to switch off' at evenings and weekends.

And the legislation will also be used to repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act, which required at least half of members to take part in a vote before a walkout could be allowed, as well as last year's Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which attempted to keep key public services running during industrial action by ensuring skeleton staff were on duty.

The PM will say: 'Let's be clear why we need this Bill. It's because this Government is committed to driving up living standards, improving productivity and working in partnership with workers.

'And as part of that Bill we will repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act, we will get rid of Minimum Service Level legislation, end the cheap and vindictive attacks on this movement and turn the page on politics as noisy performance - once and for all.'

However he will also claim that his Government 'will not risk its mandate for economic stability' with union leaders demanding above-inflation pay deals for their members.

'With tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by that,' the PM will warn.

 TUC address

Starmer hails ‘national renewal’ amid pensions protest

Terry Murden, Editor | September 9, 2024

Sir Keir Starmer: the mood is for partnership (pic: Terry Murden / DB Media Services)

Sir Keir Starmer will use a keynote speech to trade unionists to hail the beginning of a new relationship between business and workers, though it will be overshadowed by accusations that he has betrayed the country’s pensioners

In an address to the Trades Union Congress on Tuesday – the first by a Prime Minister in 15 years – the Labour leader will describe the hostility between boardroom and shopfloor as an “outdated trope”, and say that pro-worker, pro-business partnerships will be a driver of national renewal.

After early successes in reaching pay deals with train drivers and junior doctors he will say that “the mood is for partnership”, adding that partnership is a “more difficult way” of doing politics.

“I know there’s clarity in the old ways, the zero-sum ways: business versus worker, management versus union, public versus private. That kind of politics is not what the British people want,” he will say.

The Labour leader will warn that this does not mean it is open season for pay settlements and that the government “will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances”.

He will tell delegates that with tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by those conditions.

“I owe you that candour because – as was so painfully exposed by the last government – when you lose control of the economy it’s working people who pay the price.”

However, his claim that Labour can “deliver for working people: young people, vulnerable people, the poorest in society, because we changed the Labour party” is likely to jar with those who say Labour has begun its tenure with a betrayal of working people and pensioners.

Many pensioners will be denied their winter fuel allowance

The Unite union has accused Labour of “picking the pockets” of pensioners and Sir Keir could face some hostility during his presentation in Brighton.

He will be reminded that in the run-up to general election he promised to retain the winter fuel allowance. Those protesting against illegal immigration accuse him of allowing “two tier policing” which has seen them unfairly labelled as “far right thugs”, while their opponents are treated more leniently. Labour and the police deny the claims.

Tommy Robinson, the self-styled leader of the “Force for Good”, is organising a rally in Downing Street on 26 October, claiming that British people have had enough of what they see as discrimination against them and an infiltration of the country by people who should not be here.

Sir Keir is expected to face a revolt in the Commons on Tuesday over the decision to withdraw the winter fuel payments to pensioners not in receipt of credits. A number of backbench Labour MPs will join the SNP and Tories in opposing the move, though the government’s huge majority will ensure the government will see off the rebellion.

In his address to the TUC he will insist that he is being upfront with the voters and putting their interests before the party’s.

“When we finally saw the books, and with trust in politics so low, I had to be honest with the British people… I owed it to them to promise only what we knew we could deliver,” he will say.

“And yet even in our worst fears we didn’t think it would be this bad. The pollution in our rivers, the overcrowding in our prisons, so much of our crumbling public realm – universities, councils, the care system, all even worse than we expected.”

He will criticise the Tory government’s record on immigration by saying: “Millions of pounds wasted on a Rwanda scheme that they knew would never work. Politics reduced to an expensive, divisive, noisy performance, a game to be played and not the force that can fundamentally change the lives of those we represent.”

He will say that the work on rebuilding the foundations and improving living standards includes a reform of workers’ rights.

“We will repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act, we will get rid of Minimum Service Level legislation, end the cheap and vindictive attacks on this movement and turn the page on politics as noisy performance – once and for all,” he says.

“We will keep to the course of change, reject the snake oil of easy answers, fix the foundations of our economy and build a new Britain. More secure, more prosperous, more dynamic, and fairer. A country renewed and returned, calmly but with confidence, to the service of working people.”

Labour must be ‘for the many not the few’, TUC Congress says


Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference after his first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, London, following the landslide General Election victory for the Labour Party, July 6, 2024


Berny Torre
Tuesday, September 10, 2024

MORNING STAR

LABOUR must be “for the many and not the few,” TUC Congress declared, as it called on the government to ditch “phoney” fiscal rules and impose wealth taxes instead.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was urged to adopt more of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn’s political credo a day before he vows to “make no apologies to those still stuck in the 1980s” in an historic keynote speech to delegates in Brighton today.

Yesterday, union leaders snubbed his government’s plans to “pickpocket” pensioners through cuts to winter fuel payments and demanded they start investing heavily in public services.

They unanimously called on the union federation, which represents nearly six million workers, to urgently agree a “high-profile and constructive public campaign to strongly make the case for a more radical, progressive and credible economic strategy for national renewal.”

This campaign is to be launched “as soon as possible to influence the next and forthcoming budgets and to include lobbying of MPs and the Cabinet.”

Moving the motion, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said ministers needed to fix the “broken” Britain left by the Conservatives, but she warned it would not be achieved by “just moving the deckchairs.”

She said that, under the Tories, the rich had become richer and the poor were poorer, leaving them and their communities “on their knees.”

Ms Graham has criticised the government over its plans to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners, telling delegates: “We need a wealth tax now.

“We cannot wait for growth and we cannot agree to a jobless transition.

“Labour needs to ditch phoney fiscal rules. Labour should put its arms around the working class, and be Labour.”

She said Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s new £7.3 billion national wealth fund was dwarfed by the £80bn Germany has put towards a green transition.

“It’s a joke, if we are serious about fixing the economy, it’s going to take money,” she said.

“Investment in British industry needs to start now. Labour needs to stop the phoney fiscal rules.”

Seconding, Rail, Maritime and Transport union general secretary Mick Lynch said: “There is an urgent need for Labour to make immediate, significant investments in public services and infrastructure to restore living standards and secure sustainable economic growth.

“This will require reforms in taxation and borrowing, alongside bolstering collective bargaining rights to ensure work pays fairly.

“We call on Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Labour government to introduce a proactive industrial strategy that includes public ownership and investment in key sectors to promote long-term economic stability.

“Taxing unearned wealth from the richest in society must be a goal for the trade union movement if we are to create the kind of country that works for the many and not the few.”

The TUC campaign is to make the case for reforms to remove “unnecessarily restrictive and arbitrary fiscal rules and a plan to close the £500bn public investment gap through responsible borrowing” and a real industrial strategy.

These include a wealth tax on the richest 1 per cent with a redistribution that will raise £25bn per year for our public services and NHS.

The motion also calls for the equalisation of capital gains tax in line with income tax and closing inheritance tax loopholes, including allowances for agricultural and business land, and special treatment of alternative investment market shares.

Today, Sir Keir will call for a “politics of partnership” in the first TUC address by a Labour prime minister in 15 years.

“We ran as a changed Labour Party and we will govern as a changed Labour Party,” he is expected to say.

“So I make no apologies to those, still stuck in the 1980s, who believe that unions and business can only stand at odds, leaving working people stuck in the middle.

“And when I say to the public ‘our policies will be pro-business and pro-worker,’ they don’t look at me as if I’m deluded, they see it as the most ordinary, sensible thing in the world.”

He is also expected to warn: “I do have to make clear, from a place of respect, that this government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances.

“And with tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by that. I owe you that candour because — as was so painfully exposed by the last government — when you lose control of the economy, it’s working people who pay the price.”

UK

Which pensioner benefits payments are set to go up - and down?

As Keir Starmer continues to face a backlash about the winter fuel payment, what is happening to the other payments available to pensioners?

James Cheng-Morris
·Freelance news writer, Yahoo UK
Updated Mon 9 September 2024 


Sir Keir Starmer is dramatically scaling back the winter fuel allowance. (PA)


Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “picking the pockets of pensioners” while leaving the richest “totally untouched” as the row over the winter fuel payment continues.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, urged Starmer to “do a U-turn” on the policy, which would see payments scrapped for millions of pensioners in a winter where the average household energy bill is to increase by £149.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday: “Leadership is about choices. He needs to be big enough and brave enough to do a U-turn on this choice. It’s completely wrong. People do not understand how a Labour government has decided to pick the pocket of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society totally untouched. That is wrong and he needs to change course.”

However, the winter fuel payment is not the only benefit that is set to change for pensioners in the coming weeks and months.
Winter fuel payment

Introduced by the last Labour government in 1997, the winter fuel payment scheme - intended to tackle fuel poverty among pensioners - currently offers annual tax-free payments of up to £300 to anyone over the state pension age in England or Wales.

But in July, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to limit the allowance, saying she needed to fill a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances left by the previous government, a claim the Tories have challenged.

Under the change, only those who claim pension credit and other means-tested benefits will receive it. This is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment by 10 million - from 11.4 million to 1.5 million - which the government says will save £1.4bn this year.



But Age UK has said two million pensioners who are only just above the income threshold and "badly need the money" will be missing out - and the issue has developed into the first crisis of the Starmer administration.

A motion relating to the changes will be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday. A backbench rebellion is likely, but given the size of Labour's majority - 158 - it is highly unlikely the vote will not go Starmer's way.
Pensioner cost of living payment

In the winters 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, pensioners received an additional "pensioner cost of living payment", of up to £300, on top of their winter fuel payment.

This was one of the different categories of cost of living payments provided by the previous government.

However, these payments are not being repeated for the upcoming winter. This was confirmed by the Conservative government in November last year, when it said: "There are currently no plans to extend the cost of living payments beyond the spring."
Household support fund

A fund to help struggling households with bills and essentials was set to expire this winter, but was extended last week.

The household support fund, which was due to end at the end of September, will run for another six months with £421m to be provided to councils in England.

How average annual energy bills have changed in the past 18 months. (PA)

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said it will “help people who maybe are not entitled to pension credit, who are just above that threshold [for the winter fuel payment], who may struggle this winter”.

But the End Fuel Poverty Coalition warned: "As the winter fuel payment axe plunges more pensioners into fuel poverty, the fund may prove to be inadequate as more vulnerable older people turn to local authorities for help and assistance.”
State pension

Labour has repeatedly cited its commitment to the pension 'triple lock' when defending the winter fuel payment changes.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the state pension is set to increase by £500 annually next year.

The current maximum state pension is £221.20 a week - the increase to this is set to be revealed on Tuesday.

Such changes would take the full state pension to around £12,000 in 2025/26, following the £900 increase in 2023. Pre-2016 retirees who may be eligible for the secondary state pension could see a £300 per year increase.

The new state pension system was introduced in 2016 to provide a sustainable, clear foundation pension for people to build their private savings.

The "triple lock" means that the state pension rises each April in line with the highest out of: the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation in September the previous year; average earnings growth in the year from May to July of the previous year; or 2.5%.

However, any increase won't take effect until 1 April next year, meaning it won't help pensioners with their energy bills this winter.

Plaid Cymru urges Welsh Labour MPs to vote against Winter Fuel Payment cut

09 Sep 2024 

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader has urged Welsh Labour MPs to vote against the UK Government’s plans to implement cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment ahead of a key vote this week.

MPs are set to vote on Tuesday on proposal to means test the payment, which is designed to help the elderly with higher heating bills, so that only those claiming Pension Credit are eligible.

The UK Government confirmed last week in response to a question from Plaid Cymru’s Work and Pensions spokesperson, Ann Davies, that 400,000 households in Wales will be affected by changes to the Winter Fuel Payment.

Previously, payments of up to £300 had been made available to everyone above state pension age.

Hardship

Liz Saville Roberts said: “Welsh Labour MPs must now consider whether they can truly justify imposing such a vast scale of hardship.

“No one with an understanding of Welsh communities could claim that 400,000 Welsh pensioner households are well-off and can get by without this payment. Limiting the Winter Fuel Payment to only those on pension credit is far too restrictive.

“Instead, the government could, for example, increase the age at which pensioners can claim the payment, so that the oldest and most vulnerable continue to be supported.

“Alternatively, the Winter Fuel Payment could be brought within the definition of taxable income.

“Labour Ministers have repeatedly echoed the line in recent days that the new government is forced to make ‘tough choices.’ But why do ‘tough choices’ always seem to result in more misery for those already struggling? The UK is the sixth-largest economy in the world, and there are 165 billionaires in the country. The notion that cutting fuel support for pensioners is inevitable is simply farcical.

“Pensioners are being pushed deeper into fuel poverty, unfairly scapegoated by Rachel Reeves to promote a pro-austerity narrative that will have serious consequences for older people. Those Welsh Labour MPs, elected in June on a platform of ‘Change,’ must ask themselves whether they want to be part of continuing an ideology that is so detrimental to Wales.

“Pensioners mustn’t be forced to bear the brunt of Westminster’s economic failure. I urge all Welsh Labour MPs to vote alongside Plaid Cymru on Tuesday, to ensure that pensioners are supported through what could be a harsh winter.”

Tough decisions

In response to growing calls for the changes to be scrapped, a Number 10 spokeswoman said that at Monday’s cabinet meeting, ministers “agreed” on the importance of “fixing the foundations of the economy” by taking tough and unpopular spending decision.

Asked by reporters whether there had been any dissent over the planned cut, which will see all but the country’s poorest pensioners stripped of the winter fuel payment, she said there had been none.

Some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan, one of the parliamentary party’s newly elected members, calling on the Government to delay implementing the cut.

The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the Government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.

However, ministers continue to insist the cut is necessary to help fill a £22 billion “black hole” in this year’s budget left by their Conservative predecessors.

U-turn

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham accused Labour of deciding to “pick the pocket of pensioners” while leaving the richest “totally untouched” and urged Sir Keir to “do a U-turn” on means-testing the allowance.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We need to make sure that he is making the right choices and leadership is about choices. He needs to be big enough and brave enough to do a U-turn on this choice. It’s completely wrong.

“People do not understand how a Labour Government has decided to pick the pocket of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society totally untouched. That is wrong and he needs to change course.”

Meanwhile, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch said the Government is making a “historic mistake”.

“They will have to do something about this historic mistake, otherwise we will start to see the consequences this winter,” he told a fringe meeting at the TUC Congress in Brighton.

Under the plans announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in July, around 10 million pensioners will lose out this winter.

Starmer’s on the ‘wrong path’ says Unite union leader

Delegates at the TUC union federation's conference are angry at Starmer's plan to slash winter fuel payments

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham speaks at TUC conference

 (Picture: Sharon Graham on Twitter/X)

By Thomas Foster in Brighton
Monday 09 September 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER

Labour is on the “wrong economic path”. That was the damning indictment from Unite union leader Sharon Graham at the TUC union federation conference on Monday.

Her speech came the day before Keir Starmer plans to steal winter fuel allowance from ten million pensioners.

“Labour has signalled some good things but the economic path it is on is simply wrong,” Graham told delegates. “How can a Labour government remove the winter fuel allowance while the top 50 families are worth £50 billion?

Graham said that Labour “needs to be making different choices”—and that workers “are at the end of the line”. “The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poor and the poorest are worse every time,” she said.

Her closing message was, “No to cuts, no to austerity mark two—and yes to wealth tax”.

Many people voted for Labour hoping for change after 14 years of Tory rule.

The message from TUC general secretary Paul Nowak and many union leaders is—“Give Labour a chance.”

That taps into a general sense of relief that the Tories aren’t in government any more. Bill, a Unison union member, told Socialist Worker, “After 14 years of the Tories, what’s not to support Labour.” He said that he was “hopeful” of Labour and “willing to give Starmer a chance”.

“He’s only been in office for around eight weeks so it’s not a lot that can be done in that time.”

But many delegates—while glad the Tories are out—do expect more from a Labour government. Another Unison delegate welcomed the end of the Tories and was open to “testing out what Labour is going to be about”.

But he added that Starmer’s suspension of seven MPs who voted to scrap the two-child benefit camp in July could be a turning point. He said it was “a significant event in determining the direction that Labour wants to go in”.

“We have to develop a plan that fights for the money we need and develop a strategy that puts the government under pressure.”

He argued that trade unionists will have to use both “industrial muscle and political muscle”.

NEU education union general secretary Daniel Kebede told a fringe that Starmer’s refusal to scrap the two child benefit cap is “a disgrace”. “It’s happening when Starmer is committing 2.5 percent to militarism and arms,” he said. “I want him to commit to spending more on education instead.

Tensions over Starmer at TUC union federation congress

“We can’t be complacent as Starmer is going to need a push. We are going to have to fight again. It’s not a matter of if—but when.”

Duggy, a Bfawu food workers’ union delegate, told Socialist Worker, “What Labour is doing is a disgrace. It is punishing pensioners and children. I didn’t have a huge amount of hope and when I see things like the winter fuel payment cuts, I’m dreading what’s in store with Labour.”

“The TUC thinks it is going to get a lot out of Labour but I don’t think it will. Unless trade unionists make Labour do something, things won’t change”.

“Nothing ever shifts without people putting demands and forcing change. It’s the working class that changes the world—it comes from the bottom up not the top down.”

An RMT transport union delegate wasn’t expecting much from the Labour government. “If you look at social democratic parties in the last 20 years, you have to be an optimist to think they come down in favour of workers,” he said.

“They’ve either lurched decisively to the right or even gone into coalitions with right wing parties. Throughout the world social democratic governments fail to confront neoliberal capitalism and become hated.”

“We have to be ready for that possibility to develop in Britain.”

Starmer firm on winter fuel payment cuts amid potential Commons revolt

The Government could face a backbench rebellion over plans to scale back who is eligible for the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.


The move has been met with unease among some Labour backbenchers

Helen Corbett

Sir Keir Starmer said he recognised that scaling back the winter fuel payment was a “really tough decision” but said Labour must “secure the foundations” of the economy as he faces a potential backbench revolt over the plans.

The Prime Minister has faced criticism from unions and some Labour MPs over the policy, which will see all but the country’s poorest pensioners stripped of the winter fuel payment.

The move has been met with unease among some Labour backbenchers who have said they feel unable to vote with the Government on Tuesday.

Sir Keir told Scottish lobby journalists in Downing Street: “Let me first recognise this a really tough decision that we’ve had to make.”

I absolutely recognise the tough decision

Sir Keir Starmer

But he said that Labour had been “elected into government on the basis of economic stability, that we would secure the foundations”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the squeeze in July as part of a series of measures aimed at filling what she called a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances.

Sir Keir said: “If you’re asking whether I recognise it’s a tough decision I absolutely recognise the tough decision. If you’re asking, would I want to make this decision, the answer is no, but I did not want to inherit a £22 billion black hole, and I’m not prepared to walk past that.”

Some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan calling on the Government to delay implementing the cut.

The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the Government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.

Sir Keir told the BBC at the weekend that whether or not Labour MPs will be suspended from the party for voting against cuts to winter fuel payments is “a matter for the chief whip”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the squeeze in July (PA)
PA Wire

A Number 10 spokeswoman said there was no dissent among ministers over the planned cut in a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

And a spokesperson for the Chancellor said that MPs showed “strong support” for the planned cut during a meeting of the parliamentary party on Monday evening.

Ms Reeves urged Labour MPs to back the move during that meeting, saying: “We stand, we lead and we govern together.”

She added: “I’m not immune to the arguments that many in this room have made. We considered those when the decision was made.”

Under the plans, the winter fuel allowance for pensioners will be limited to only those claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits.

It is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million – most of whom claim pension credit – saving around £1.4 billion this year.

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham has accused Labour of deciding to “pick the pocket of pensioners” and called instead for a wealth tax to raise funds.

The Prime Minister said that measures to stabilise the economy are “the foundation for the triple lock, which in the end means that the state pension will increase in a way that outstrips the winter fuel payment”.

The Chancellor wrote in The Telegraph on Monday that the Treasury estimates maintaining the triple lock will make a state pension worth around £1,700 more by 2029.

The triple lock guarantees the state pension will rise each year by the highest of either inflation, wage increases or 2.5%.

Why Starmer and Reeves cannot back down on pensioner squeeze


Robert Peston
Monday 9 September 2024 
Peston's Politics   

ITV

Governments get into a mess when pragmatic decisions that go wrong become tests of authority and principle. This is the tragi-comic fate of the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer following their decision to abolish universal pensioner entitlement to the winter fuel payment.

The chancellor announced the controversial welfare saving to prove to investors that she is serious about improving the health of the public finances.

Her logic was that if she was having kittens about the £22 billion current year “black hole” that she says the Tory government bequeathed her - and my goodness she doesn’t tire of telling us how anxious she is - so too would be the City of London and investors.

That is why she engaged in a “lite” version of Osborne’s 2010 austerity. And her advisers and colleagues keep telling me she was only doing what Treasury officials told her was essential to prevent a fall in the price of government debt and an associated rise in market interest rates.

This justification however is laughable, as I normally tell them. And I mean that literally. Because when I talk to City investors controlling gazillions, they snort and giggle at the idea they would have turned against the self-defined iron chancellor if she hadn’t taken £1.4 billion from pensioners.

Majority of pensioners below poverty line ‘could lose winter fuel payments’

Reeves defends move to cut winter fuel payments as 'right decision'

The point is that tens of billions of pounds will be needed to fix UK public services, and that £1.4 billion is smaller than a rounding error.

The idea that Reeves’s fiscal credibility - which is high in any case - would be made or broken by the pensioner raid is absurd.

Even on the basis that it is an inefficient use of public money, because rich pensioners don’t need it, she could have waited till her October budget before deciding whether to means test the energy subsidy - and she could have announced the change in a strategic fashion along with assorted tax rises and spending re-allocations.

If her Treasury officials told her otherwise, as her political colleagues insist they did, then its market intelligence is rubbish and it is not the institution it once was.

As it happens, Treasury sources tell me Reeves’s defining characteristic is she is more old-school, small “c” conservative Treasury than they are, and that the pensioner squeeze was all her.

Either way, the argument is no longer about market economics, if it ever truly was.

It is now about competence and who is in charge.

If Starmer and Reeves are bullied into a u-turn by left wing MPs, the Tory press and trade union leaders, despite their enormous commons majority, then there would be a question about their ability to do what Starmer calls “tough, unpopular” things.

So early in his term, that would be a problem.

This is why, in their every utterance, they now talk about taking cash from pensioners as the very bedrock of their big ambitions to restore confidence in the UK and generate world-leading economic growth.

The point is that a gambit that was never at inception necessary to keep the confidence of investors has now acquired market significance: investors would look more warily at UK government debt and sterling, if Starmer and Reeves cave when the political heat is turned up, however ill-conceived the initial policy.

 

 

Not one Labour MP spoke out against winter fuel allowance cut at tonight’s PLP meeting

BySKWAWKBOX (SW)09/09/2024

on Not one Labour MP spoke out against winter fuel allowance cut at tonight’s PLP meeting

Private meeting to allow MPs to speak their mind sees silence on issue of freezing to death 4,000+ pensioners

On Monday night, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held a private meeting with the ‘parliamentary Labour party’ (PLP) in the Commons, a gathering of all Labour’s MPs to allow them to voice their concerns and intentions ahead of tomorrow’s Commons vote on the Starmer-Reeves plan to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for millions of pensioners, forcing many to choose between heating and eating, or quite possibly to do neither.

Not one MP present spoke against the plan, according to one attendee.

The cut, according to Labour’s own calculations, will kill around 4,000 pensioners each winter – especially women, northerners and the over-75s – on top of the 8,000 people who already die because they live in a cold home.

Not one MP.

Those who care about starving children are no longer in the party, having been suspended because they refused to back Starmer’s decision to continue the ‘two-child benefit cap’ that puts well over a million children either into poverty or even deeper into poverty – a decision that earned him the deserved epithet of ‘Sir Kid Starver’. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s enthusiasm for depriving pensioners of heat has made her ‘Rachel Freeze’ – and has not prevented her claiming thousands for the energy bills of her parliamentary second home.

Red Tories surrounded by more red Tories, every bit as wicked and cruel as the blue kind.

Liberal Democrats to oppose winter fuel allowance cuts

By Mark Valladares | Mon 9th September 2024 - 

Winter Fuel Allowance: Over half of pensioners say they will heat their homes less this winter

• Over half (55%) of UK pensioners polled say they will likely heat their homes less this winter due to the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment, while four in ten (39%) say they will cut back on essentials.

• Two-thirds (65%) say they will take cost-cutting measures due to the government’s announcement to withdraw the Winter Fuel Payment support. One in five (19%) say they will eat less this winter.

• Liberal Democrats call on the Labour government to urgently rethink cuts that will affect around 11 million people and pledge to vote against the cut in Parliament.

A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed the staggering effects of the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance this winter.

The poll of pensioners showed that three in four (75%) expect to be affected by the Government’s cut to winter fuel allowance payments.

Staggeringly, over half (55%) of UK pensioners polled said they would likely be heating their homes less this winter, while 4 in 10 will look to cut back on other ‘essentials’.

1 in 5 (19%) pensioners are planning to eat less this winter due to the cut.

Research from the charity Age UK shows the proposed cut to Winter Fuel Payments will mean two million will find paying their energy bills a real stretch and will be seriously hit by this cut.

The poll comes as there is set to be a vote in Parliament on the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance. Liberal Democrats initially called for a vote by tabling a motion and will now take the opportunity to oppose the government.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:

The government should do the right thing and change course on this.

This decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance will put untold stress on pensioners, with many facing a heartbreaking choice between heating and eating this winter.

While we understand the dire state the Conservatives left the public finances in, now is not the time to be cutting support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

We cannot stand by and allow millions of pensioners to endure another winter in a cost of living crisis, Liberal Democrats will be voting against the government’s cut.