Sir Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with cuts to winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in the face of fierce opposition from union chiefs and some Labour MPs.
The Prime Minister sought to raise hopes by talking of “the light of a fairer Britain” but warned “tough” decisions were needed to sort out Britain’s crippled public finances.
Amid simmering unrest in Labour ranks, Sir Keir addressed the Trades Union Congress conference in Brighton before a crunch Commons vote on Tuesday afternoon on restricting winter fuel payments to those on pension credit.
He tried to defuse the anger among some delegates by stressing a “more prosperous, secure and dynamic country... is at the end of the tunnel”. But Labour rifts were laid bare with veteran Left-winger Diane Abbott launching a stinging attack on the new Government.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington told BBC radio: “It’s wrong to play games at the expense of the poorest pensioners just to look tough.”
But this claim was rejected by Labour’s former Work and Pensions Secretary Lord Hutton, who backed the Government’s action given the state of the public finances. “I really do not think this is a case of the Government playing games or trying to look tough,” he said.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on Tuesday morning ratcheted up the pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves over the controversial policy as dozens of Labour MPs were mulling whether to back the Government in the Commons.
“I would just ask the Government not to rule out the possibility of a higher threshold or indeed a taper of winter fuel allowance because our experience in Greater Manchester is that pensioners are often reluctant to apply for the pension credit,” he said.
From this autumn, older people in England and Wales not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will not get winter fuel payments, worth between £100 and £300. Ms Reeves insists the measure is needed to help plug an alleged £22 billion black hole in the public finances which Labour claims was left by the Tories. Ex-chancellor Jeremy Hunt has flatly denied this.
Sir Keir also signalled that tighter public pay settlements were in the pipeline despite finding funds to end strikes by junior doctors and train drivers.
“I do have to make clear... that this Government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances,” he stressed.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds also made clear that there will likely be tax rises, as well as more public spending cuts, in the Budget next month.
Rejecting claims that some pensioners will die of cold because of the fuel payment cuts, he said: “The state pension this year is higher than last winter and energy bills are lower.” Latest figures pointed to the state pension rising by £460-a-year in April under the so-called “triple lock”.
But 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.
At the TUC, Sir Keir promised new workers’ rights and better industrial relations with businesses. “I make no apologies to those, still stuck in the 1980s, who believe unions and business can only stand at odds,” he said.
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