Starmer backtracked on winter fuel cut ‘amid fears of electoral disaster'
Sir Keir Starmer performed an about-turn on winter fuel payments after being warned by senior Labour figures that his decision to cut the benefit would spell disaster at the polls in Scotland.
The Telegraph understands that in recent weeks, senior Scottish Labour figures have been lobbying the Prime Minister to reverse his decision to cut the annual payment to OAPs.
They are said to have warned him the move had inflicted serious damage on the party's hopes of making big gains in next year's Holyrood election.
A series of polls have shown that support for Labour has collapsed in Scotland, particularly among pensioners, with Nigel Farage's Reform UK threatening to become the second-largest party in Holyrood.
In addition, Scottish Labour insiders were worried that the cut was undermining the party's campaign in a by-election for Holyrood's Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat, scheduled for June 5.
Imogen Walker, the Labour MP who holds the equivalent Hamilton and Clyde Valley seat at Westminster, is married to Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff and political svengali.
Although the SNP is expected to comfortably win the by-election, Labour is facing the threat of being pushed into third place by Reform in what would be a big humiliation.
Sir Keir's decision to means-test winter fuel payment applied to all pensioners in England and Wales, with control over the benefit devolved to SNP ministers at Holyrood.
But John Swinney, the First Minister, has argued that he had no choice but to follow suit as the decision south of the border led to a £147 million reduction in the SNP government's funding through the Barnett formula.
The payment of between £100 and £300 went to 130,000 Scottish OAPs in receipt of pension credit and other means-tested benefits last winter – 900,000 fewer than the previous year.
Mr Swinney then used the record funding his government received from Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to announce that all pensioners would receive a payment of at least £100 before this winter.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, then tried to limit the political damage to his party by promising to reinstate the full benefit of up to £300 if he became first minister after next year's election. However, his pledge appeared to cut little ice with voters, with polls showing no sign of support for Scottish Labour recovering.
Mr Sarwar welcomed the Prime Minister's rethink, tweeting: 'Last year I made it clear that a Scottish Labour government led by me will reinstate the winter fuel payment.'
Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said the Chancellor 'had to stabilise the economy' when she announced the cut to the benefit 'and now we're seeing the fruits of that'.
But Mr Swinney tweeted: 'A reminder to everyone in Scotland that Labour cut the winter fuel payment for pensioners and @theSNP brought it back.'
The social media post included a picture of himself with Katy Loudon, the SNP candidate in the by-election, in front of a campaign billboard.
The left-hand side of the poster was red and contained a picture of Sir Keir with the slogan: 'Labour cut your winter fuel payment.' The right-hand side was yellow with an image of Mr Swinney with the caption: 'The SNP is bringing it back.'
Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, said: 'Voters have lost trust in the Labour Party, which has broken the promises it made at the election. Keir Starmer is scraping around in desperation to recover the ground he has lost, but the damage is already done. Trust in his Government is broken.'
Liz Smith, the Scottish Tories' shadow social security secretary, said: 'Labour's decision was quickly followed by the SNP in Scotland, who are now trying to also claim credit for partially righting their own wrong, which won't fool the nearly one million Scots pensioners who were hit by that decision.
'Which pensioner will ever trust Keir Starmer again over the winter fuel payment, given his constant shift in position on it?'
Adam Stachura, the director of policy at Age Scotland, said: 'While there is very little detail of how it will be reintroduced in other parts of the UK, it is vital that any new money coming to Scotland as a result is used by the Scottish Government to directly increase the pension age winter heating payment.'
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is the end of the dreaded airport queue in sight? Not quite
Last week, British passengers arriving at Tenerife South Airport reported 'inhumane' conditions after queueing for more than two hours without access to water or loos. 'We couldn't move our arms, we could barely breathe, and people were sweating. Some parents lifted their children onto their shoulders to stop them from suffocating,' one passenger told local media. It's a frightening image, and one that has become more common at European airports since British air passengers became 'third-country nationals' after Brexit. This effectively gives us the same rights as arrivals from, say, Venezuela, banishing us to the often snail-paced 'All Passports' queue to get a stamp on arrival. When flying home we must also pass through border control to get a second exit stamp before proceeding to the gate. This can lead to scenarios where passengers are kettled at the gates with no access to refreshments if a flight is delayed, and no way to go back to the main terminal area. Change, it seems, is on the horizon. The Labour party has struck a deal with the EU to allow British passport holders to pass through e-gates, and the introduction of the Entry/Exit System (EES) in October will automate identity checks and remove the need for manual passport stamps. So will these images of British passengers snaking out of arrival halls at European airports soon be a thing of the past? Yes, but it may take a while. When it first rolls out, EES will require British (and all non-EU) travellers to provide fingerprints and facial images when entering or exiting the Schengen Area. This process has been much-delayed, not least because implementing it requires a continent-wide tech overhaul. And as we all know, airport IT systems, often operated by third-party firms and alongside multiple other systems, have a tendency to buckle at inopportune moments. If the new tech doesn't create hold-ups, the data capture process could. Pressing thumbs on sensors and having a photograph taken may sound like a simple process, but how many times have you seen somebody push their passport into the e-gate sensor the wrong way up? Such are the fears of hold-ups that airports are planning 'safety valve' procedures, where the requirement to capture everyone's data will be temporarily waived if a checkpoint gets too busy. On e-gates, I have found this new Labour/EU e-gates 'agreement' to be somewhat smoke and mirrors. The wording in the relevant document says that 'British passengers will be able to use more e-gates in Europe'. But this does not necessarily mean we will be able to use fast-track EU e-gates. Instead, it might be that we remain in the naughty ('All Passports') queue that happens to have an e-gate at the end of it. This will ultimately be up for individual countries and airports to decide. I will allow you to decide whether we are likely to receive sympathy on this matter, or not. Perhaps I'm being overly negative. Let's say that the EES roll-out isn't as clunky as feared, and that through some miracle the majority of European airports do kindly allow Britons to use their fast-track e-gates. Surely the airport queues will have simmered down by next summer? Maybe. But we will still face the additional border check when flying home (albeit with biometrics rather than a passport stamp). And hold-ups like those seen in Tenerife are as much to do with poor scheduling as anything else. I checked the arrivals board on Tuesday June 2, and at 10.40am there were scheduled flights from Manchester (Jet2), Liverpool (Jet2), East Midlands (Tui) and Bournemouth (Ryanair). Ten minutes later, flights from Birmingham and Leeds (both Jet2) were scheduled to land, plus another from Paris. That's seven 180-or-so capacity flights touching onto tarmac, one after the other, in the space of ten minutes, at a single-runway, single-terminal airport. Even the sleekest, AI-powered biometric arrivals system would struggle to process all those passengers without the formation of a queue. There are some changes to the airport process that we can feel optimistic about. Soon, we'll be able to take greater quantities of liquids through security at all UK airports. A shake-up of UK flight paths promises to reduce air traffic delays before the end of the decade. And yes, all this new tech will eventually reduce friction at borders. But when you are stuck in a packed arrivals hall with a child on your shoulders and no access to water, you will be praying for progress now – not at some ambiguous point in the future. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Reform UK chairman quits after calling question from party's newest MP ‘dumb'
The chairman of Reform UK has quit, saying working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. Zia Yusuf's decision follows a row in which he described a question to the Prime Minister concerning a ban on burkas from his party's newest MP as 'dumb'. Announcing his resignation on Thursday afternoon, he said: '11 months ago I became chairman of Reform. I've worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30%, quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral results. 'I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.' Earlier, he had criticised the party's newest MP, Sarah Pochin, after she asked Sir Keir Starmer whether he would support banning the burka during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday – something that appears not to be a policy of Reform's. Asked about the question on social media, Mr Yusuf had said: 'Nothing to do with me. Had no idea about the question nor that it wasn't policy. Busy with other stuff. 'I do think it's dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do.' A Labour spokesperson said: 'Nigel Farage could fit all of his MPs in the back of a cab, yet he can't stop them fighting among themselves. 'Reform only guarantees more Liz Truss-style chaos. Their £80 billion of unfunded commitments would lead to economic meltdown and put up everyone's mortgage and bills. They're just not credible.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer intervenes over plans for higher energy bills in the South
Sir Keir Starmer has intervened in controversial net zero proposals to make homes and businesses in the South pay more for power than those in the North, amid fears of a voter backlash. In recent days, Downing Street has taken a growing interest in plans for so-called zonal electricity pricing being considered by Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary. No10 officials have contacted industry chiefs to signal that the Prime Minister is overseeing the potential policy. Downing Street is understood to have requested a further review of the costs and benefits – raising the prospect that the idea could be killed off or kicked into the long grass. Zonal pricing aims to capture efficiencies by lowering the relative cost of electricity close to wind farms and has already sparked a bitter war of words among energy bosses. It would result in Britain being divided into zones, with prices in each based on local supply and demand. There is currently one national price. Supporters claim the switch would lead to savings of £52bn for consumers overall, as well as a £27bn saving on grid upgrades that would no longer be required. Sir Keir's intervention is the latest sign of tensions within Labour over net zero. Pledges on job creation, investment in carbon capture technology, and heat pump and electric car targets have all sparked fierce policy debates across Whitehall. Mr Miliband's officials are said to be supportive of zonal pricing but the Energy Secretary himself has yet to declare a position. Whitehall sources insisted no final decisions had been made and that a range of views were still being considered. The involvement of Downing Street will be interpreted as a sign of political anxiety about the controversial policy. Nigel Farage's Reform UK has made net zero and the cost of energy a key campaign issue and pledged to fight plans to roll out renewable power projects and pylons across the countryside. Giving a speech in Scotland this week, Mr Farage likened the Government's net zero policies to 'the next Brexit'. In practice, a zonal system would mean higher wholesale power prices for London and the South compared with the North and Scotland, where most wind farms are concentrated. But supporters say it would slash bills for consumers overall, by reducing the need for costly grid upgrades and slashing the amount paid to wind farms to switch off. A report by FTI Consulting this year predicted overall savings under zonal of £52bn for consumers over 20 years. Another report by the same firm, commissioned by Octopus Energy and shared with Mr Miliband's officials, also found that £27bn less would need to be spent on major grid upgrades under the reforms, resulting in nearly 2,000 fewer miles of cables. The claims of savings are disputed by opponents, who say a major market shake-up will deter investment and imperil the Government's plans for a renewable energy construction boom this decade. Ministers have argued that the Government's strategy for a power system running almost entirely on renewables by 2030 will bring down prices and provide Britain with greater energy security. Asked to comment on the involvement of Downing Street, a spokesman for Mr Miliband's department refused to comment on 'speculation'. But Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy minister, said the Prime Minister's move to scrutinise zonal pricing more closely implied lack of faith in the Energy Secretary. He said: 'It suggests that the PM does not trust Ed Miliband to take a decision of this magnitude.' The Government has previously pledged to make a decision by the middle of this year, ahead of a renewable energy auction in the summer that will hand subsidies to major wind farm projects that are vital to Mr Miliband's clean power goals. That has prompted warnings from wind farm developers that embarking on a major shake-up of the electricity market now will create unnecessary uncertainty, leading to the cancellation of schemes or demands for higher power prices to compensate. Keith Anderson, the chief executive of Scottish Power, last month urged ministers not to 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory' by pushing ahead with the reforms. At the same time, ministers are under intense pressure to cut energy bills for households and businesses following Mr Miliband's pre-election promise to slash them by £300 a year. Critics say the existing national pricing system also distorts the market – for example, by encouraging batteries to charge at the wrong times and inter-connectors to send power from Britain to Europe even when it is needed in the South. In recent months, the Government has sought to quell wind developer concerns about the policy by suggesting that existing schemes will benefit from 'grandfathering' – meaning they would retain current payment terms. Mr Miliband is also weighing up an alternative proposal that would seek to reform the national electricity pricing system to better reflect 'locational signals', although these have not been fleshed out. A key moment in the debate is likely to come next week, when Mr Miliband is expected to make his recommendation, for or against zonal pricing, to Downing Street. If zonal pricing is implemented it would be the biggest shake-up of the market since privatisation in the 1990s. Richard Tice, Reform UK's energy spokesman, said: 'Zonal pricing is a trick designed to try to cover up the ever-rising energy bills we face because of subsidies to renewable energy. 'Keir Starmer is now panicking over the costs of renewables and the loss of votes to Reform.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
