Around 17,930 pensioners in North Bedfordshire will now lose up to £300 in Winter Fuel Payment after Labour MPs voted to scrap the scheme in the House of Commons on 10 September.
In total, 347 Labour MPs voted to cut the payments, despite warnings that pensioners would be forced to choose between heating and eating this winter.
Richard Fuller MP said:
The Labour Government is wrong to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners.
This decision was a choice for Labour MPs: would they support funding support for vulnerable pensioners or inflation busting pay rises for their union bosses.
Not a single Labour MP from Bedfordshire joined me in supporting pensioners.
It has not taken long for Labour MPs and ministers to reveal their true priorities.
Between 2010 and 2023, the Conservatives had lifted over 200,000 pensioners out of absolute poverty. The Conservative Government’s unprecedented cost of living support following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine also prevented 400,000 pensioners from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022-23.
Labour’s scrapping of the Winter Fuel Payment comes despite Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, saying that Labour had ‘no plans to make changes’ to pensioner benefits.
To sign our petition against tax rises and allowance cuts, which will be presented to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the date of the next Budget, please click here: www.richardfuller.co.uk/winterfuel
