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