The British Labour government’s decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners has now been attacked not only by the opposition Conservative Party and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, but by the membership of the Labour Party itself.
Far from succeeding in rekindling faith in the government amid a donations scandal exploding, the most memorable moments of Labour’s first conference in government in 14 years have seen ministers debate forcing pubs to close early, and prime minister Sir Keir Starmer inadvertently calling Israeli hostages in Gaza “sausages.”
And it has now ended today, on September 25th, with Labour members voting against their own party’s government cuts to financial support for around 10 million pensioners—funds needed to prevent the death by freezing of 4,000 retirees, according to an earlier Labour report.
A motion opposing the removal of the payments was carried by the conference after the Communication Workers Union (CWU) teamed up with Unite, another of Labour’s trade union backers. The vote was originally meant to take place on Monday, but was pushed back instead—to much consternation—to take place after Starmer’s speech.
The result is not binding but still comes as a major blow to the prime minister’s team, which has made itself widely unpopular in such a short space of time. The abolition of universal winter fuel allowance payments will still form a key part of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ October budget announcement, which is hardly likely to win the government any more plaudits.
A source from the Conservative Party jibed that Starmer has now “lost support of the Labour Party, his MPs and paymasters.” The vote also allowed SNP MP Stephen Flynn to joke that “even Labour disagree with Labour.”
