Rajdeep Sandhu
Politics correspondent
Kate Whannel
Political reporter
Unite, one of Labour's trade union backers, will try to force a vote on reversing the government's cuts to the winter fuel allowance at the party's conference in Liverpool.
The union has submitted a motion calling for "a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts".
It also urges the government to introduce a wealth tax and to end self-imposed rules which prevent borrowing to invest.
Despite criticism from opposition parties and unease among his own MPs, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended his cut in winter fuel payments, saying "tough decisions" are needed "to stabilise the economy".
Unite union refuses to endorse Labour manifesto
Starmer defends cutting winter fuel payments
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He has also said that the impact on the 10 million pensioners losing out will be softened by a 4% increase in the state pension, due next April.
From this autumn, older people in England and Wales not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will not get the payments, worth between £100 - £300.
Unite's motion says that "workers and communities voted for change - a better future, not just better management and not cuts to the winter fuel allowance".
It adds that the country should not "turn back to failed austerity".
Mick Whelan, head of the train drivers' Aslef union and chair of the group of Labour-backing unions said he would vote against the cut.
Speaking to Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, he said the unions would be asking the government to "change their minds".
Asked about the relationship between unions and the government, he said: "There'll be times when we'll be applauding... and there'll be other times where, as tradition, we'll be firm but critical friends."
Unite is understood to be confident that its motion will be put to a vote at Labour's annual conference, which opens in Liverpool on Sunday 22 September.
Under conference rules, delegates get to vote for the topics they want to discuss. Members of the Conference Arrangements Committee, delegates and party staff then agree the wording of a final motion to be voted on.
Any vote would be non-binding, but a result that criticises government policy could embarrass the party leadership.
Unite traditionally backs Labour, but has been very critical of Sir Keir's leadership and last year its general secretary, Sharon Graham, warned the party there were "no blank cheques".
In 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, the union donated £3m to Labour. This year it did not give anything to the central party's campaign.
The union also refused to endorse the party's election manifesto, saying it did not go far enough on protecting workers' rights, and jobs in the oil and gas industry.
Labour's annual conference will be its first since the party's landslide victory in July's general election.
By Steve Price
And so it begins, a newly elected Labour Government, and the first serious misstep. After 13 long years of grotesque Tory misrule, I bring you- New Labour, Old Austerity. The means testing of the Winter Fuel Allowance. And they are already coming under attack, and from all directions.
That was a very short honeymoon period indeed! And it’s entirely self inflicted. The early signs are that this is not a slick rebuttal operation, like the one deployed under Bliar, Brown, Mandy and Malcolm Tucker.
I was on a bus the other day, and a guy who had just come back from a festival (I think) was loudly telling his friend (and anyone else who was interested) that he’s 82, and doesn’t need the ‘extra’ money. He was ranting on about rich pensioners abroad, all those living in big houses, all the usual rhetoric. lt soon became pretty clear, however, that this was not the opinion of most of the people on the bus.
All of this takes me back to my days in the civil service, where the left of my old union (in CPSA/PCS) always argued in favour of universal benefits, even though in theory that would mean less bureaucracy, and fewer jobs! (We also argued that staff should be redeployed, to create a more humane benefit system, one which actually HELPED people).
Back then, it was all about take up. For all the claims about benefit fraud, there was always much more benefit being unclaimed or underclaimed. In light of the extraordinary rise in fuel prices, this decision will cost lives. I mean, it just will. Restricting the benefit to those on pension credit is basically cruel. That top-up benefit is set at a very low level, so even if you’re only a tenner above the limit you’re basically poor.
And many pensioners who could be entitled to it will not claim because of the excessive bureaucracy (there are 213 questions), and the intrusive nature of those questions. “I’m not going to tell them all my personal business…”. This becomes an issue of personal dignity. And we know how low UK pensions are compared to most of Northern Europe.
And it’s not even being argued effectively. Reeves’ assertion to those losing £300 (or more) that ‘your pension went up by £400 last year’ went down like the proverbial lead balloon. It was borderline offensive, considering how much the cost of living rises disproportionately affected poor people.
And disingenuous too, in relation to the ‘shock horror’ £22 billion black hole. Ooh, didn’t see that coming. And yet, with a slight adjustment of the Treasury’s Fiscal Rules, the supposed hole would disappear. This is a political choice, not a financial necessity.
It has been noted that retaining the Winter Fuel Allowance was written into the 2017 and 2019 Manifestos, but suspiciously absent from the one the Party just got elected on! Hmmmm.
And what happened to the much hyped massive rebellion of Labour MPs against this cruel and unnecessary policy? After endless speculation as to the size of the rebellion, the group of already-suspended MPs has been increased by – one. Thanks Jon.
Many of the others were involved in an agonising struggle with their conscience, and for most of them their consciences lost. What did those abstaining think they were going to achieve? The amendment (from the Tories!) was easily defeated, so what was the point?
The voters and party members won’t look the other way so easily though. First the refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap, now this. Labour’s own figures show that 4,000 older people could die this winter – that’s on top of the 8,000 who die every year from living in fuel poverty. This is just storing up trouble for the future.
- This article was originally published in the September/October 2024 edition of Labour Briefing magazine
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