Owen Jones on Starmer’s Labour party stopping Winter fuel payments
Labour votes to plunge pensioners into poverty
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-votes-plunge-pensioners-poverty
SUPINE Labour MPs have voted to plunge pensioners into poverty, after approving winter fuel benefit cuts for millions of older people.
The Commons backed Sir Keir Starmer’s austerity move by 348 votes to 228, with many Labour MPs abstaining.
A larger-than-expected 53 Labour MPs seem to have not backed the government in the vote, although some may have had permission from the whips to skip the debate.
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John McDonnell, speaking in the brief debate which preceded the vote, said that the cut “flies against everything I believe in as a Labour MP about tackling inequality and poverty within our society.”
He slammed the government’s claim that those with the “broadest shoulders” should bear the burden of the crisis, saying that it was the poorest who have been hit hardest.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-votes-plunge-pensioners-poverty
Unions urge Starmer not to deliver more austerity as TUC Congress heckler tells PM to ‘tax the rich’
UNIONS urged Sir Keir Starmer not to deliver more austerity after he told TUC Congress to expect pay and public investment restraint.
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said the Prime Minister failed to announce a change of course after “decades of division, austerity and underinvestment in public services.
“Instead of setting out a positive vision to rebuild the economy and our society, he served up more of the same,” he added.
“The politics of austerity will only be ended in practice, not in fine words.”
Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Fran Heathcote added: “We’ve had enough of being told about ‘tough decisions.’
“You cannot solve the problems caused by austerity with more austerity.
“That’s why the TUC has voted overwhelmingly for a campaign of pay restoration across the public sector, which will boost living standards and strengthen the economy.”
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Cut to winter fuel payment could kill 4,000 people, Labour’s own research suggests
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winter-fuel-payment-cut-labour-deaths-b2609340.html
Analysis published by Labour in 2017 said plans to means test winter fuel payments would be the ‘single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation’
Thousands of pensioners could die if the government proceeds with its plan to cut winter fuel payments for those not on benefits, Labour’s own research suggested.
Analysis published in 2017, when Sir Keir Starmer was in the Shadow Cabinet, warned that Conservative plans to cut the fuel allowance for ten million pensioners would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.
The proposal, put forward by Theresa May’s government, was dubbed the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”.
The report has resurfaced just weeks after Rachel Reeves announced that older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits will no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winter-fuel-payment-cut-labour-deaths-b2609340.html
dizzy: I would expect the figure to have increased from 4,000 since energy prices have increased so much since 2017.
The dishonesty of Rachel Reeves
Labour refuses to publish impact assessment of winter fuel payment cuts until after MPs have voted
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winter-fuel-payment-starmer-reeves-b2609520.html
Independent Exclusive: Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh confirmed her department has assessed the impact the policy change will have on pensioners living in fuel poverty, but said only that it will be published ‘in due course’
The government has assessed the number of people who will be pushed into fuel poverty by its winter fuel payment cuts, but will not publish the figures until after MPs vote on the measure, The Independent can reveal.
Answering a parliamentary question from former Labour frontbencher John McDonnell, energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh confirmed her department has assessed the impact the policy change will have on pensioners living in fuel poverty.
But, asked by Mr McDonnell and The Independent, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero refused to say when the document would be published, only promising that it would be “in due course”.
Her answer suggests that while the department has carried out the analysis, it will not be published until after MPs have voted on the measure. Mr McDonnell said “it is no way to implement policy” and he is “fearful of the impact on those who will be put at serious risk”.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winter-fuel-payment-starmer-reeves-b2609520.html