Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government may have expected its failings on immigration and UK-EU relations to be attacked by the Reform party, given these key issues have shaped—and have been shaped by—its leader, Nigel Farage.
But it will be all the more uncomfortable seeing the former Brexit Party outflanking it on support for pensioners.
Last night, Reform did just this, with all five of its MPs voting against Starmer’s decision to cut winter fuel payments—not that the BBC cared to make a point of this. The lump sum £200-£300 (€237-€355) benefit was paid—until now—to all pensioners to help with energy bills. A report from the Labour Party itself claimed that almost 4,000 pensioners could die without the support.
Yet just one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted against the government. A further 53 abstained—the biggest rebellion against Starmer as prime minister yet.
Reform’s Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who previously served as a Labour councillor, said it was important to “name and shame” the 348 Labour MPs who voted in favour of scrapping winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, which was also opposed by most Conservative MPs.
Attacking Starmer’s government as “wicked and cruel,” Anderson told GB News that Reform will be beating the drum on this issue at upcoming local elections.
Next year we’ve got the county elections in Nottinghamshire, and I’m telling you now, this will be on every single leaflet.
Farage—who has long been a master of campaigning—also drew attention to the fact that Jim O’Dwyer, a 99-year-old veteran of World War Two, will be among the millions of pensioners to lose the cash payment.
Starmer’s decision to scrap the support is, Farage added, a “disgrace.” The Reform leader also highlighted that it contradicts Starmer’s former stance on pensioner support, which is hardly out of character.
Starmer has, for his part, described the decision as “tough” but essential for “fixing the foundations” allegedly left broken by the Conservatives. On Wednesday, he also refused to rule out scrapping free pensioner bus passes.
The government insists pensioners will continue to be supported sufficiently—a claim both Labour and Reform MPs are unlikely to forget.
