North East MPs react to Rachel Reeves' winter fuel payment announcement
North East MPs have welcomed the news nine million pensioners will receive a winter fuel payout again this year.
The Chancellor announced a £1.25bn U-turn today (Monday, June 9) which will see the payment worth up to £300 restored for the vast majority of pensioners.
It will mean all OAPs with an income of under £35,000 will automatically receive the amount, after the payment was initially scrapped last year for all but the worst-off pensioners.
Confirming the U-turn, Rachel Reeves said the Government had 'listened to people's concerns' about the decision to limit the payment to the poorest pensioners last winter, and was now able to widen eligibility because Labour had restored 'stability' to the economy.
Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy said: 'I'm delighted the Government has listened to the voices of those impacted by the loss of Winter Fuel Allowance, and to campaigners, charities and MPs who have been advocating for it be either be re-introduced, or for the cut off threshold to be extended to ensure more people are eligible.
'I made my opposition to these cuts clear at the time, and have continued to advocate for the Government to change course. It's good news more people will benefit from this payment this year, but the Government must ensure decisions made going forward protect vulnerable groups, rather than push them further into poverty.
Ms Foy called for a U-turn on the Government's policy last year.
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Luke Myer, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said: 'This is a positive and long-overdue step to support older people through the winter.
"I'm pleased the Treasury have listened to me and other MPs who expressed concern about the threshold.
'Raising the threshold will help pensioners across Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland to stay warm and well. But we also need to see faster action to bring down bills in the long term and end the unfair postcode lottery for fuel poverty in our region.'
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America has carried 'too much' of the burden of holding up Nato, the military alliance's chief has admitted. 'American allies have broad shoulders. Europe and Canada will do more for our shared security. That will be backed by America's rock solid commitment to Nato,' he said in a speech in London. Russia could attack Nato within five years, Mark Rutte has warned. The Nato chief, who is delivering a speech at Chatham House in London, said there was 'no longer east or west' given the speed and lethality of Russian missiles. 'We are all on the eastern flank now,' he said, adding: 'The distance between European capitals is only a few minutes.' Kicking off his speech at Chatham House, Mark Rutte said he welcomed the UK government's strategic defence review, which set out how the government will boost defence spending. 'I welcome that the UK government will spend more in the future,' he said. 'I know we can count on the UK as we start the next chapter for Nato.' Mark Rutte has now started his speech. You can watch him speak at the top of this page. The Kremlin has condemned Nato's plan to quadruple its spending on air and missile defence saying it is European taxpayers who will suffer. Mark Rutte, head of the Western military alliance, will today urge for a 'quantum leap' in defence capabilities including a '400 per cent increase' in aerial defences to shield Nato against Russia. In response to the expected speech, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said Nato 'is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation'. 'European taxpayers will spend their money to defuse some threat that they say comes from our country,' he said. Gaps in the alliance's air defences are considered one of the Western alliance's most pressing challenges. 'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,' Mr Rutte will argue at Chatham House think tank in London, after a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer. Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, is about to deliver a speech at Chatham House in London, where he will argue for members to boost defence spending to counter the threat of Russia. You will be able to watch the speech live at the top of this page when it starts. The head of Nato will today announce that the military alliance needs to increase air and missile defence spending by 400 per cent. Mark Rutte, who is on a visit to London, has been pushing members to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, and a further 1.5 per cent security-related spending to meet Donald Trump's demand for a 5 per cent target. Mr Rutte believes the target will be agreed at the Nato summit in the Hague later this month, where the major air and missile defence boost will be top of the agenda. At a speech at the Chatham House think-tank, Mr Rutte will argue: 'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies.' 'The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence. The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.' Gaps in Nato's air defences are considered one of the Western alliance's most pressing challenges. Errol Musk, father of Elon, has been pictured sitting next to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at a ultra-nationalist conference in Moscow. Mr Musk is one of a number of controversial attendees at the conference, which also includes Alex Jones, the American conspiracy theorist. 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Previous estimations have suggested that Nato's militaries only have enough air defence systems to cover 5 per cent of its Eastern flank with Russia. Some allies, like Britain, do even take surface-to-air systems particularly seriously. For example, the UK's armed forces employ the Sky Sabre system, but only have access to a handful of them. It is believed one is on loan in Poland, and another protecting the Falklands. When Mark Rutte, Nato's secretary-general, delivers a speech at the Chatham House think tank later on Monday, he will warn air defence systems need to be increased four-fold across the alliance. They are at the centre of his new capability targets, agreed by Nato defence ministers last week, which will see defence spending jump up to 3.5 per cent across the alliance. Other crucial gaps to plug include long-range missiles, heavy and light armour and the logistics needed to move vast numbers of forces rapidly from west to east in the event of a Russian invasion into Nato territory. The Kremlin said that Nato's plan for a huge boost in air and missile defence was an 'instrument of aggression and confrontation'. The Western military alliance 'is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation', Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. Mark Rutte, Nato Secretary-General, is due to say in a speech in London on Monday that the alliance needs a 400 per cent increase in air and missile defence. Russia launched 479 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of war, the Ukrainian air force said on Monday. As well as drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas of Ukraine. Ukraine's air force said its air defences destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles on Sunday night, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured. It was not possible to independently verify the claims. We will be bringing you all the latest updates from Nato chief Mark Rutte's statements in London and the war in Ukraine.
