One third of people back restoring winter fuel payments to all pensioners
The Prime Minister said this week that he wanted to look at widening eligibility for the payments worth up to £300 after Labour limited who could receive the payment last year.
But officials have not said how many more pensioners would be eligible or if the policy would be altered in time for next winter.
A YouGov poll carried out on Thursday showed 44% said the benefit should still be means tested but offered to more pensioners than it was currently, while some 7% wanted the policy kept as it was now.
And 33% backed reverting to the previous system where it was universal.
The decision to means test the payment was one of the first announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves after Labour's landslide election victory last year, and has been widely blamed for the party's collapse in support.
Sir Keir was meeting with devolved national and regional leaders on Friday.
Scotland's First Minister John Swinney was expected to call for the winter fuel payment to be fully restored for pensioners during bilateral talks with the Prime Minister.
Welsh Labour leader Baroness Eluned Morgan said she wanted the 'majority of pensioners' to get the winter fuel allowance.
Asked on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast if she would back taking it away from high-rate taxpayers but leaving it in place for everyone else, she said: 'That's probably where I'd be.'
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PA Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Like most political animals, I have always enjoyed the drama of by-elections. Whilst seldom making a difference to who actually governs us in the short-term, they can be clear indicators of the mood music amongst the public towards parties vying for power, particularly when the next national election is not so far away. That said, I didn't stay up for the result in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last week, not expecting much in the way of drama. 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The Scottish Conservatives had an equally strong local candidate in Cllr Richard Nelson from Larkhall who fought an energetic campaign albeit one we knew never had any realistic prospect of victory. Fourth place was always the best place we could hope for in this seat, as our voters were squeezed to vote tactically either for Labour or for Reform to beat the SNP. On the doorstep we met loyal Conservative voters who told us that they would be using this by-election to 'send a message' to the SNP by voting tactically for whoever they thought was best placed to defeat them, but at next year's Holyrood election would be back voting for us again. That said, we know there is work to be done in presenting a compelling message to maximise our vote for Holyrood in 2026. The real losers on the night were, of course, the SNP. All the polls suggested that this is a seat that they would hold, and the party poured in resources, with numerous visits by leadership figures from the First Minister John Swinney downwards. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The SNP strategy appeared politically clever, if essentially dishonest, in attempting to portray the contest as a two-horse race between them and Reform. This was designed to squeeze Labour voters, in particular, into voting SNP as the lesser of two evils. It backfired spectacularly. The Reform vote was indeed substantial, but if we analyse the figures, it seems that Reform's gains were not so much at the expense of Labour, or even the Conservatives. The 26 per cent of the vote achieved by Reform, at a time when Labour's vote share hardly moved, can only be explained by looking at the 17 per cent drop in the SNP vote. There was a direct transfer from one party to another. Perhaps this should not surprise us. 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