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Keir Starmer: I want to make more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payments

21 May 2025 4 minute read
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Image: Jack Taylor/PA Wire

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government wants to make more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payments.

The apparent U-turn comes as the Prime Minister has faced pressure from Labour ranks to change course over the squeeze on benefits and pensioners’ winter fuel payments.

Media reports had suggested ministers could remove the two-child benefit cap or reconsider their decision to means-test the winter fuel payment for pensioners to placate rebellious Labour MPs.

Finding a mechanism to widen eligibility for the payment will cause headaches in Whitehall, because officials fear that simply increasing the pension credit threshold to which access is linked would also increase take-up of that benefit, wiping out any potential savings.

“Tough decisions”

Sir Keir said the Government had needed to “stabilise the economy with tough decisions” after taking over from the Tories, but that it was now starting to improve.

He said he understood the financial pressures on pensioners, speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions.

“I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, including pensioners,” he told the Commons.

“As the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements in their days as their lives go forward. That is why we want to ensure that, as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.

He said the Government will “only make decisions we can afford” and will therefore look at this as part of a fiscal event.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch challenged him over the “U-turn”, calling him “desperate”.

Asked if he was planning a U-turn, the Prime Minister said: “As the economy improves, we want to take measures that will impact on people’s lives, and therefore we will look at the threshold, but that will have to be part of a fiscal event.”

Mrs Badenoch said: “I wonder how the public feel about a man can’t give a straight answer to a simple question, and you look at all of them behind him, all of them cheering: when this inevitable U-turn on winter fuel comes – and it will, from a desperate Prime Minister – what will he say to the 348 MPs who went over the top and voted for the winter fuel cut last September?

“Just like the British public, how can any of them ever trust him again?”

“Poll tax” comparisons

Veteran Labour left-winger Diane Abbott earlier told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the policy was like the poll tax in the way it had “cut through” to voters.

She said: “One of the things that struck me, colleagues that went to campaign in Runcorn, that was the issue that was raised on every doorstep. Some things cut through, remember Mrs Thatcher and the poll tax … I think the winter fuel is like that because everybody knows an old person.”

Asked if she thought Sir Keir would still be Prime Minister at the time of the next election, she said “I hope so” but “there are other people”, singling out Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

A memo leaked to the Daily Telegraph suggests Ms Rayner pushed for a radical combination of tax hikes to avoid the need for further cuts in spending.

She suggested reinstating the pensions lifetime allowance and changing dividend taxes in a memo to the Chancellor ahead of March’s spring statement, with ideas to raise revenue.

Sir Keir defended his deputy during PMQs after Mrs Badenoch said his Cabinet was “open warfare” with Ms Rayner “clearly calling the shots”.

He said: “She wants to talk about the Deputy Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister’s working with the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) building 1.5 million new homes, reforming our planning system, putting £7 billion into our economy and bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill, which is the single biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Week after week at PMQs, Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives have pressed the Prime Minister to U-turn on his cruel winter fuel payments cut. And week after week, Keir Starmer defended the policy.

“It’s taken the threat of his MPs losing their jobs, and his Cabinet descending into open warfare over which taxes to raise, for the Prime Minister to finally recognise the hardship his winter fuel policy has caused.

“Pensioners already suffering under this government’s spiralling inflation will want to see the detail of this latest screeching U-turn as soon as possible.”


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
17 days ago

Leadership and the Morale of the populace…

Such a hard lesson to learn for some governments…

Especially ones given to cruel and sadistic tendencies as is the Bumble Family…

They are really quite nasty when you get to know them…

David
David
17 days ago

KS & co would say “Let them eat cake”!

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
17 days ago

The first thing Clark should do is sack his team of advisor, he has missed from the spot every time, not surprised, different ball, different game…

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
17 days ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

We’ll heat again, don’t know where, don’t know when but I know we’ll heat again some chilly day…ah Vera…

Last edited 17 days ago by Mab Meirion
Barry Pandy
Barry Pandy
17 days ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

Well, they all survived the winter without it didn’t they? Which just goes to show, the triple lock on pensions means they no longer need the winter wine allowance.

Peter J
Peter J
17 days ago

The sad thing is how much easier it seems for the government to cut funding in areas like councils, education, youth centres, libraries, public transport, infrastructure, and industrial support- even though these are the very foundations of a healthy and functioning society. Those are going to bear the brunt of this reversal. These sectors often drive long-term prosperity, yet they’re frequently the first to face budget cuts. Why? Because the effects of underfunding them aren’t always immediately visible. A single moment such as WFA cut does make the headlines, as people attentions spans are so poor and the news cycle… Read more »

Last edited 17 days ago by Peter J
Barry Pandy
Barry Pandy
17 days ago
Reply to  Peter J

But the youngsters don’t matter it seems, only the elderly and their winter wine allowance.

Barry
Barry
17 days ago

It’s only a u-turn if the wealthy get their Christmas wine fund back.

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
17 days ago

Of course, the Universal Winter Fuel Allowance should be restored for 2025 Christmas.

The tax threshold should have been raised towards £20,000 pa taking many on the lowst pay completely out of taxation altogether and the shortfall made by introducing a higher band of personal income tax on the access of £180,000pa of say 60% (the same rate when Thatcher left office).

There is extreme inequality in these lands and it is this inequality which is not only causing suffering among many, but also impairing state of the economy.

TheOtherJones
TheOtherJones
17 days ago

Just a thought, obviously never going to happen due to too much influence and favours.

Why not legislate to cap, pretty aggressively, how much profit energy companies can make.

Year on year of record profits for these companies, all whilst life gets harder and harder for the rest of us.

If the UKGov wants to make a big (positive) impact that everyone will feel, that’s how to do it. Guarantee a large majority of the population would support that over giving some pensioners a few bits of loose change.

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