Trade unions are pushing for Labour to reverse plans to cut the winter fuel allowance, branding the policy “cruel and unnecessary”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that around 10 million pensioners in England and Wales will lose their winter fuel payments.
The number of pensioners eligible will drop from 11.4 million to 1.5 million in England. Scotland and Northern Ireland governments plan to follow suit. Winter fuel payments are worth between £100 and £300, although in recent years this had been boosted to between £250 and £600 due to the cost-of-living crisis.
The chancellor has said that this measure is necessary due to a “black hole” in the nation’s finances. However, unions have described this as picking the pockets of pensioners instead of raising public funds through taxing wealth.
Age UK has estimated that two million pensioners who would rely on the payments to stay warm this winter will not receive them. Charities warn that fuel poverty kills. The End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimates that nearly 5,000 people died as a result of living in cold homes last winter.
Delegates at the Labour party’s annual conference this year voted against the cut, calling for the government to reverse its plans and tax the wealthy instead.
The motion, put forward by Unite the Union and seconded by the Communication Workers Union, was supported by FBU delegates, and passed in a landmark vote. Speaking from the podium, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “I do not understand how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel payment for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched. This is not what people voted for.”
Trade union leaders have since continued to raise the issue. At a meeting with Rachel Reeves in early October, general secretaries including Matt Wrack pressed the need for the leadership to reinstate the allowance.
“The proposed cut to winter fuel allowance is regressive, unpopular and unnecessary,” said Matt Wrack.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that people will die this winter if they cannot afford to heat their homes properly. “We fought for a Labour government on the basis that it would end austerity after more than a decade of attacks on living standards – and Keir Starmer must not let voters down.
“Labour must tax the rich and wealthy instead.”
