Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to draw a line under the winter fuel allowance saga that has dogged the Government since last summer, writes Mirror Political editor Lizzy Buchan
Rachel Reeves today tried to turn the page on Labour’s biggest mistake so far.
Only weeks after the party’s landslide election victory, she stunned the country by announcing plans to strip around 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments.
A Tory aide who served two Chancellors once told me that the winter fuel allowance was at the top of the Treasury hit list offered to No11’s new incumbents.
Ms Reeves’s predecessors didn’t fancy picking a fight with pensioners and baulked at being blamed for leaving OAPs struggling to heat their homes.
But in the early days in Government, the Chancellor was focused on proving she had an iron grip on the public finances.
It was clear from the start that it was a serious error, puncturing the optimism and goodwill from the public who had handed Labour a massive majority.
Even senior Government figures acknowledged it had been a mistake but there were fears that they couldn’t afford to U-turn – either politically or economically.
However it became a running sore for Labour.
MPs complained they were being inundated by complaints from constituents and it came up repeatedly on the doorstep in last month’s local elections.
Unnerved by the surge in support for Reform UK and growing unrest from Labour MPs, Keir Starmer and his Chancellor blinked.
Initially Downing Street suggested we would have to wait until the Budget for the full details, leaving pensioners in the dark about whether they would be eligible.
But Ms Reeves gave them hope by confirming an almost complete U-turn, with only the richest OAPs missing out.
The Chancellor will take some flak in Westminster for this U-turn.
There will be questions over how it’s funded and whether the Government is vulnerable to pressure on other unpopular policies.
But she’ll be hoping that the public gives her credit for listening to their concerns, allowing the Government to draw a line under this sorry episode and shift focus to the positive things it’s trying to do.