Latest news with #WinterFuelAllowance
The National
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Davy Russell flounders in STV interview ahead of Hamilton by-election
Davy Russell, who snubbed a debate organised by STV's Scotland Tonight programme on Monday evening, instead took part in an individual interview with the broadcaster. The debate, which will air on STV on Monday evening, will only be attended by the SNP's Katy Loudon and Reform UK's Ross Lambie. READ MORE: Seven Scottish Tory councillors quit party as group 'collapses' Russell previously said he would not be attending the debate because he would rather be "knocking on doors" - despite the fact that the event is scheduled for 10.40pm. In an individual interview with STV journalist Colin Mackay ahead of the debate, Russell struggled to answer when asked about the failings of the current Labour Government. 🗳️Tonight we hear from five candidates in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse Holyrood by-election. In recent Scottish opinion polls, there are six parties enjoying significant support. We invited their candidates to debate. Only two agreed to debate, and three took up the… — ScotlandTonight (@ScotlandTonight) June 2, 2025 Mackay asked Russell a total of 11 times whether the UK Government was right to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment. The Scottish Labour candidate did not answer and instead insisted that he wasn't involved in the decision and that he was running for a Holyrood election rather than Westminster. In a clip shared on social media, Mackay asked: "You're probably speaking to quite a lot of older people. Are you getting any anger from them that Labour have scrapped the Winter Fuel Allowance?" READ MORE: What to expect from The National as we cover Hamilton by-election this week Russell responded: "Yes, there is some concern, and Scottish Labour have said from day one that we will reinstate the Winter Fuel Allowance." Mackay then said: "But at Westminster you've scrapped it, so again, you'd have to mitigate what your Government did at Westminster." Russell replied: "But there were hard decisions to be made when the Labour Government came into power in Westminster." Mackay then asked Russell four times whether the Labour Government was right to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment. "They're hard decisions to take," Russell started to reply. Mackay then asked again: "Do you think they were right?" Russell responded: "Well, they were very hard decisions." Mackay asked: "Do you think they were right to do it? It was a hard decision, do you think they made the right decision?" Russell said: "Well, they took it based on the decisions, the circumstances they'd inherited." READ MORE: Nigel Farage hides from public and press in shambolic by-election campaign visit Mackay replied: "So you backed them? You backed the Chancellor, you back the Prime Minister on it?" Russell repeated: "They're very hard decisions." Mackay asked again: "And you back them?" Russell then paused for several seconds before saying: "I totally think that the decisions they had to make were based on the previous government's mismanagement of the country–" "And you backed them on it." Russell then paused again, before he started: "On the doorsteps here, people are–" "But you backed the Government. You backed the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. You can just tell me yes or no." "Well, I wasn't involved in the decision, and this is a Scottish Parliament election, right? "If I was a member of parliament then, I would have based it on the facts I had in front of me at the time." The interview comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Scotland for a defence announcement in Govan, although he did not take part in the by-election campaign in nearby Hamilton. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was also in Scotland, visiting Aberdeen and Hamilton – where he avoided the public and the press after protesters tracked down where he was supposed to appear.
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Hard-up households to get up to £150 in free cost of living cash
Read below for more councils providing financial support CASH IN Hard-up households to get up to £150 in free cost of living cash HARD-UP households can get up to £150 in free cost of living cash. Cash-strapped households can get access to money through the Household Support Fund (HSF). 1 The household support fund gives cash grants to struggling households The scheme has been extended multiple times with the latest round running between April 2025 and March 2026. Each council in England has been allocated a share of the £742million fund and can distribute it to residents in need. Eligibility criteria varies based on where you live but usually help is offered to those on benefits or a low income. Eligible households in Leeds will get payments of up to £150 to help. How much you will be given depends on factors like if you are a pensioner or if you have dependent children. All claimants must also be in receipt of Council Tax Support, a scheme where those on a low income or benefits can get money off the bill. The payment will be £125 to households with dependent children and £50 to all households without. Meanwhile, some pensioner households who are eligible for Council Tax Support but not the Winter Fuel Payment will receive £150. The £300 benefit was previously available to everyone aged 66 but cuts made by Labour now mean only those on means-tested benefits, such as Pension Credit get the help. Sir Keir Starmer has announced plans to ease cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, - however the PM was sparse on details about when the changes might take place. Cash for Care Leeds council said those who are eligbile for the support will recieve the payment in the autumn and winter. The council also said it would be in direct contact with those who meet the criteria. A qualifying date for when you need to have been in receipt of Council Tax Support to be eligible for the support has not yet been set. So if you think you may be eligible for the support it might be worth submitting an application. You can find out more by vising, APPLY FOR A COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION If you are on a low income or receiving benefits, you could be eligible for a reduction on your council tax. Whether you are eligible will vary depending on where you live. Also it does not matter whether you own your home or rent, anyone who is struggling financially can apply. You need to apply for a reduction via your local councils website. To make a claim, will need to provide the council with information on your earnings and what pensions, benefits, allowances and tax credits you receive. To find where your local council is visit In some instances your bill could be reduced by 100%, meaning you don't have to pay anything. You could also get a deferral if you're struggling to pay your bill, or you can speak to your council about setting up a payment plan to manage the cost. Pensioners may also find themselves eligible for a council tax reduction. If you receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, you could get a 100% discount. If not, you could still get help if you have a low income and less than £16,000 in savings. And a pensioner who lives alone will be entitled to a 25% discount too. Again, to claim this, you will need to contact your local council. WHAT IF I DON'T LIVE IN LEEDS The £742million Household Support Fund has been shared between all councils in England. For example, North Somerset Council has also announced it will provide food vouchers worth up to £100 to those in need. And, families living in Worcestershire can apply for cost of living cash worth £500. Meanwhile, Cheshire West Council's latest allocation of the Household Support Fund is worth £200. Hartlepool council is also distributing £100 food vouchers to all children eligible for free school meals aged between two and 19. But even if you don't live in these areas but are struggling financially or are on benefits you will likely be eligible for help. This is because the fund was originally set up to help those on low incomes or classed as vulnerable. What type of help you can get will vary but it could range from a free cash payment to supermarket vouchers. It's worth bearing in mind, because the new round of the HSF has only just opened, you might not be able to apply for help yet. However, it's worth keeping an eye on your local council's website or social media channels.
New Statesman
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
The town that loathes Keir Starmer
A boat passes through the northern industrial town of Burnley. Photo by Lancashire Images /Alamy On the shop floor of Burnley's last mill, 28 looms are thrashing away with a dull roar. At modern machines all around this stone factory, workers are diligently constructing the product that turned this town from a backwater into a centre of global capitalism: one man examines a roll of fabric for flaws; behind a glass partition a group of young women are sewing; upstairs others map out new patterns on CAD software. Steven Eastwood, who has driven forklifts around Ashfield Mill for decades, remembers a time when his employer still had local competitors. Now, from a peak of 99,000 looms a little over a century ago, only the weaving machines in this room remain in commercial operation. As Burnley's traditional industry has faded so too has its connection to Labour, its traditional politics. After winning every election here from 1935, the party lost to the Liberal Democrats in 2010, and then the Conservatives in 2019, before narrowly taking back the seat at the last election. Eastwood has voted for Labour his entire life. He says he will continue to do so with an apologetic shrug, as if he can conceive of no possible alternative. But asked what its leader now stands for, he cannot say. Speaking to his aides in opposition, Sir Keir Starmer told them he wanted to be judged by a simple test: in five years time, could he look in the eyes of voters in towns such as Burnley and tell them that Labour had made a genuine difference to their lives? Almost one year after he entered office – according to residents of the town – he appears to be on track to fail. Sitting on a bench inside Charter Walk Shopping Centre, Janine, a supply teacher, is using her half term holiday to people watch on a quiet afternoon. Born locally into a 'very poor working class family' she has been living in Bonn for the last two decades. When she moved back to Burnley recently she was shocked at the area's decline. 'I came back to a society that I could not recognise behaviour wise, attitude wise,' she says. 'I love this town but it's so run down. Betting shops, charity shops, boarded up shops. It breaks my heart.' She estimates her quality of life was 10 times higher in Germany doing the same job. At one school at which she now teaches, 14 and 15-year-olds have the literacy levels of primary school children. At another, a charity had to buy Christmas presents for pupils because their parents could not afford any. 'That was not the case when I was last teaching in the UK,' she says. 'I couldn't believe it.' A former Labour voter, she cannot understand why, in her eyes, the government is determined to penalise those in need of help. 'They're taking the Winter Fuel Allowance away, taking farmers' inheritance from them, they have no plan on illegal immigration and public services are on the floor.' Janine is now convinced the party's core voters will abandon them for Reform. 'I never thought I would say I wouldn't vote Labour but at the last election I voted Green even though I knew they wouldn't win,' she adds. Paul, a bus driver nursing a hot drink nearby, insists he cannot begin to talk about Starmer because his opinions will be unprintable. 'The government is fucking too right wing,' he eventually says. 'They're fucking backwards bastards on everything.' They are targeting people who have worked 'all of their bastard life', he says. 'Even the Conservatives left the Winter Fuel Allowance alone – they knew not to touch the pensioners.' Until last year, Paul had always voted Labour. At the next election he will not turn out at all. 'I don't like Farage, he's too fascist,' he says. 'I don't trust any of them.' When I say that Starmer wants to be able to tell the people of Burnley he has made a genuine difference to their lives, Paul laughs. 'I don't think that whichever government has ever been in they've ever had an impact on my life. You work your arse off all your life and they screw you.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Manning the till in a British Heart Foundation shop on Burnley's high street, Amanda says that she also used to support Labour. Now, she believes the party is 'not doing such a good job' in office. 'They've not done what they said they were going to do. Their decisions have been bad,' she says. 'As a person Keir Starmer seems alright. As a politician he's not doing a good job.' Shops are closing in Burnley, but at least it's not as bad as nearby Nelson, another Lancashire mill town, which has now become a 'dump', she claims. 'The government always say they will give us money but we never see any of it, or they spend it on stupid stuff.' At the next election, Amanda plans to vote for the Liberal Democrats or the Greens. 'They seem to believe in their principles more. The Conservatives and Labour have been in power for so long. They always get in so they've become a bit more complacent.' Like many Burnley residents, Afrasiab Anwar was brought up on traditional Labour values. After moving away for university he came back to his hometown in 2002, a year after local race riots saw white men attack takeaways and Asians firebomb a pub. 'It wasn't a place I recognised,' he says now. In an attempt to improve the town, he began working for the local authority before winning election to represent Labour himself and then, in 2021, becoming the council leader. In November 2023, however, when Starmer failed to call for a Gaza ceasefire, he and 10 other Labour representatives quit the party. Anwar's Burnley Independent Group now runs the local authority in coalition with Lib Dem and Green councillors. [See also: Why is Birmingham leading Britain's child poverty spiral?] Sitting in his office within Burnley's grand town hall, he is contemptuous of the government he once wished to see elected. 'It's been a complete letdown in every aspect. There's been nothing for places like Burnley. There's been no additional investment,' he says. 'Traditional Labour voters, what are they getting? Working-class people, what are they getting out of this Labour government? The two child benefit cap, the winter fuel allowance. It's the complete opposite of what a Labour government stands for.' On the doorstep, Anwar claims, voters tell him they did not believe things could decline further after 14 years of austerity. Under Starmer's government, though, 'they think it's far worse'. Burnley has long struggled to manage an uneven transition from the days of King Cotton. In 2019, it was ranked as the eighth most deprived area in England. It has some of the highest rates of fuel poverty, health deprivation and child poverty in the country. At the same time, however, the town has become a centre of high tech manufacturing that has seen it touted as a model for northern revitalisation. Former mills have been turned into campuses for the University of Central Lancashire; local firms engineer ultra-lightweight parts for Airbus planes. Anwar is convinced the old ways of doing politics here are gone: Labour's ties to their core support are irreparably broken. 'People are much cleverer now,' he says. 'They vote for people who they think will represent them, who will be their voice and who are genuinely a part of the town, a part of the fabric of the place.' While Labour won Burnley at the last election, its vote share dropped. Having received the endorsement of Muslim community leaders, Lib Dem candidate and former MP Gordon Birtwistle shot up to second place. When I ask Anwar if he plans to challenge his old party at the next general election he insists he is focused on running the council for now. For many others in Burnley, Westminster simply has no relevance to their lives. Standing on the high street, Uwais, a young boxing trainer in a green shell suit, says he has no opinion of Starmer at all. He does not watch television. He does not follow the news. 'I don't think it makes much difference,' he says. 'There's still potholes and shit.' In any case, he insists, Burnley is great. He pivots to gesture at a ragged figure smoking on a nearby street corner. 'Look at that guy over there on spice: he's living his dream!' Luc Paul would vote but he has no ID. On a break from his shift at a children's toy shop, he tells me he is appalled at Starmer's volte-face on trans rights. In opposition, the prime minister said there was a 'desperate need' to introduce gender self-ID. Now, he does not believe that trans-women are women. 'I don't think he stands for anything. He only wants power so he can get money for himself,' Luc Paul says. 'The Greens, Lib Dems and the Scottish party have a lot more going for them.' Cradling his walking stick under his arm and smoking a rolled cigarette, Steven says he remains a Labour supporter but does not know anyone who could run the country now. 'The government aren't meeting the requirements,' he says. After being admitted to the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital recently for a routine operation (Burnley's A&E closed in 2007), his wife picked up an infection and became seriously unwell. He blames outsourced agency staff for messing up her care. Retired on health grounds himself, he says the government has not helped to improve his life to date. 'It's a case of surviving,' he adds glumly. What does Starmer stand for? Steven says he cannot put his finger on it. Perhaps the most positive assessment of the government available in Burnley is that it has simply not yet had time to get to grips with problems that long predate its election. Perhaps further decline is just to be expected. Perhaps Britain is headed inevitably in the same direction as Burnley's mills whichever party is elected. John, an older man standing alone by a handsome stone building, says that of course Starmer is going to make mistakes. 'They're miles better than the previous government,' he says. He plans to back Labour again at the next election. 'I don't think Starmer's doing a bad job,' he says. 'You've got to remember what they came into office to. You've got to bear in mind it's not going to turn around too quickly.' [See also: Reform UK's taproom revolutionaries] Related
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Chester Road closed as emergency services deal with 'incident'
A busy commuting route in Streetly is closed following reports of an incident. West Midlands Police has shut both carriageways of Chester Road to traffic on Friday evening. There is no information on the nature of the incident but locals have posted on Facebook that police and ambulances were seen close to the Shell Petrol Garage and Streetly Academy. READ MORE : 'Shocking' sentence of special needs teaching assistant who abused pupils to be reviewed READ MORE: £200 payments announced for state pensioners who've lost Winter Fuel Allowance READ MORE: People born after this date won't get their state pension until they are 67 amid rule change A car which had said to have collided with a hedge and sign was also spotted. The roadway is closed from Queslett Road East to Kimsan Croft. Get the latest BirminghamLive news direct to your inbox There is no indication of when it might reopen. Traffic provider Inrix said: "A452 Chester Road in both directions closed due to emergency services incident from A4041 Queslett Road East to Kimsan Croft. "Diversion - bus routes 77 and 77A," it added. National Express West Midlands posted on X that the number 77 is on diversion. They said: "Due to an emergency service lead incident at Chester Road #Sutton 77 are on diversion in both directions via: Queslett Road East, Aldridge Road, Hundred Acre Road and Bridle Lane. "We apologise for any disruption to your journey."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Labour's on the ropes and Starmer has no answers
This was the week in which Reform UK finally shattered the facade of indifference maintained by the British political establishment. It was only a year ago next week that Nigel Farage announced his return to frontline politics. As opinion polls show the upstarts leading all other parties by ever wider margins, a whiff of panic has permeated the Downing Street bunker. After its triumph over Labour and the Conservatives in the local elections and the Runcorn by-election at the start of this month, Reform has emerged as a threat to the SNP, which is defending its Holyrood seat in Hamilton next Thursday. What has brought about this sudden intensity of focus on a party that still has just five MPs in Westminster? There is no longer much doubt about Reform's ability to translate its popularity into electoral success. Labour's legions of backbenchers know that their chances of serving more than a single term depend on seeing off this unfamiliar challenge. Mr Farage is visibly morphing into a different kind of politician. The welfare and fiscal policies he has just espoused are to the Left of the Tories and, in some cases, of Labour too. Reform promises not only to restore benefits that Rachel Reeves has curtailed, such as the Winter Fuel Allowance, but to go further by removing the two-child benefit cap. This unaccustomed apparition of the Father Christmas of Clacton seems to have rattled the Prime Minister – so badly, indeed, that he turned up at St Helens on Merseyside this week to devote an entire speech to attacking Mr Farage. Sir Keir Starmer achieved nothing by this excursion apart from drawing attention to the Reform leader and his policies. Even worse, the Starmer counter-attack found itself bogged down in an unexpectedly fierce barrage of criticism from accompanying journalists, including even those who had been hitherto well-disposed. The irreverence, even hostility, of the PM's interrogation in St Helens signals a serious loss of prestige. After only a year in office, prime ministerial power is visibly ebbing away. Ironically, Sir Keir has identified the right problem: Nigel Farage and Reform really are an existential threat to Labour. But he has so far failed to come up with any plausible answers. The incoherence of the Government's policies – cutting disability benefits with one hand, while handing out big public sector pay rises with the other – is patently obvious. And the intellectual vacuity of Starmerism has just been highlighted by the absurd comparison of Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives with the Nazis by Lord Hermer, the Attorney General and Sir Keir's right-hand man. Next week the battle will shift further north to the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election for the Scottish Parliament. This has degenerated into a slanging match between the SNP and Reform, with the former accusing the latter of playing the race card, while the Labour vote is squeezed. Fresh from an appearance at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, next week Mr Farage will be in Scotland and doubtless steal the show there too. If Reform were to capture Hamilton, it would be a bitter blow for the SNP: Winnie Ewing's victory there in 1967 first put them on the Westminster electoral map. Over the summer the Prime Minister hopes to regain momentum with public spending and strategic defence reviews. Yet neither of these worthy documents seems likely to deliver the relaunch that Labour sorely needs. The UK economy is struggling to generate any growth at all after the bloodletting of the Reeves Budget and the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs. Still living in denial, ministers will resist departmental cuts, thereby thwarting the boost in military investment required by the global threat level. Another spectre at the feast is the prospect of large-scale revolts over welfare reform. A growing number of Labour MPs are ready to risk the implosion of the Government rather than let down their favoured lobby groups. Labour and Reform could find themselves locked in an unedifying competition to bribe voters with their own money. The Conservatives now have an opportunity to recast themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, national security and the work ethic. With millions living on out-of-work benefits, Kemi Badenoch could regain the initiative by showing how to bring people back into the workforce. With the country longing for strong leadership, Mrs Badenoch could well do a better job of taking on Mr Farage than Sir Keir has done so far. 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.
