Labour is wrong to scrap the winter heating allowance and then add fuel to the fire with dire warnings of hard times to come, says Mirror columnist Paul Routledge, and has handed the hypocritical Tories, who first proposed the benefit cull, an open goal
Keir Starmer easily won his critical Commons vote on scrapping the winter fuel allowance for most old people.
But he’s lamentably failed where it matters – in the parliament of public opinion. Wherever I go, I hear the same chorus of “this is not what we voted for”.
On my bus, a 94-year-old ex-serviceman who fought with the Gurkhas lambasted the Government, to murmurs of approval from other passengers. Discontent is wide and deep.
It need not have been this way. Robbin’ Rachel Reeves was crass to make the hit without warning, days after an election with no mention in Labour’s manifesto.
Her mistiming handed the hypocritical Tories – who first proposed the benefit cull – an open goal. At the very least, the Chancellor should have packaged the cut in her October Budget with equal, or preferably bigger, punishment for the rich. Then she could have argued everybody had to make their contribution towards stabilising the nation’s finances.
Starmer was equally daft to stoke the flames of discontent with so many dire warnings of hard times to come, and no respite for the old and cold.
This isn’t just cack-handed presentation, it’s junk government. We were urged to vote Change for Hope, and we did. This now looks like All Change for Doomsville.
• Old people on pension credit can still claim the fuel allowance, and 800,000 have yet to do so. But you must apply for the benefit. There is a free government helpline, Pension Credit Claims Enquiry: 0800 99 1234, in England, Scotland and Wales. Or online at www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim
If you think you, or someone who you know, might be entitled, have a go – and good luck.
The form is daunting, but ministers promise to simplify it.