No Labour MP wants to cut winter fuel payments, but our commitment to pensioners is steadfast

Tomorrow’s vote on winter fuel payments will be tough, but making and explaining hard choices is what Labour was elected to do, says Dan Tomlinson

Tomorrow I will be voting for something which no Labour MP came into politics to vote for: means testing the winter fuel payment. That I and hundreds of my colleagues will make this decision is testament to just how tough governing in the wake of years of Tory economic chaos will be.

Decisions like this aren’t about abstract facts and figures for me, but are deeply personal. I received free school meals throughout my childhood and I know what governments can do to change poorer families’ lives. As I grew up under New Labour, I experienced what a strong economy and a strong social security system could provide.

And I’m in politics today to help make a difference for families struggling to get by, having spent my career working on the same issue – most recently at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. But the economic inheritance of this government is unimaginably worse than that inherited by Labour in 1997, and leaves us with no good choices.

A growing economy and much healthier public finances provided a tailwind to the New Labour government. Blair and Brown put our values into practice, investing in support for working-age and pensioner families. According to the independent think tank the IFS, there was an £11bn annual increase in benefits for pensioners between 1997 and 2010, and pensioner poverty plunged.

That is a proud legacy, and it’s one that Labour in government will build on over the course of this Parliament. So that’s why I find it galling to have to counter Tory attacks about Labour’s plans to remove winter fuel payments to better-off pensioners. After all it is their economic ruin which has forced Labour’s hand. Added to this, we’ve now learnt that the front-runner to be Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has previously also called for means testing winter fuel payments.

This duplicity to voters is exactly what Rachel Reeves is getting away from. She often described Conservative economic policy as a cheap trick – saying one thing while taking from people’s pockets and hoping they don’t notice.

We are not shying away from this difficult decision, but are being honest about the inheritance we face and how difficult it will be to balance the books, filling in the £22bn hole, while the economy is still in the doldrums.

Misinformation

A lot of misinformation has been spread about winter fuel payments, and the support available to pensioners – often by people with a political agenda. Memes on Facebook and rants on radio shows have not given the whole truth to pensioners. So let’s be clear about what is changing and the context for it.

First, pensioners in receipt of pension credit – another legacy of the last Labour government – will still receive winter fuel payments in full. Greater take-up of pension credit is a key to ensure we can target this money at those who are in most need.

Second, energy bills are lower this year than they were last year. The energy price cap will be £117 lower at the end of 2024 than it was in 2023. Rather than being honest about this, some are instead pointing at the planned rise on 1 October, missing that the cap is currently £266 lower than it was last Autumn. Wilfully ignoring this price fall is scaremongering, and isn’t helping people worried about their bills.

Third, the triple lock increased the new state pension by £900 in April, a rise of 8.5 per cent (in line with earnings, which had a bumper year). If pensions had risen in-line with prices (as working-age benefits did) they would have grown by closer to £700. In addition, for those who are struggling, Labour has also extended the household support fund for six months, a vital lifeline administered by local councils. The idea Labour would ever allow pensioners to choose between heating and eating is not only a lie it’s an obscene one at that.

Labour will raise pensioner incomes

Further still, Labour is going to raise pensioners’ incomes in the year ahead. We are fully committed to the pension triple lock. That means the new state pension will increase well above inflation next year, by more than £400 a year in cash terms. We’ll keep uprating pensions throughout this parliament, and as we turn the economy around we’ll continue to invest in the services that people of all ages rely on, from the NHS to strong community policing.

No one is pretending that the vote on Tuesday will be easy. But this is what government in hard times looks like. Making – and explaining – tough choices when constraints are tight, rather than running away from them and leaving the country in a mess.