9 hours ago
Reeves' toxic snatching of Winter Fuel cash from millions of pensioners will haunt Labour for years to come
AS POLITICAL u-turns go, Rachel Reeves' retreat on winter fuel payments will surely go down as one of the biggest - and messiest - in history.
Her first act as Chancellor to snatch the cold weather cash from 10million pensioners has today been spectacularly dumped.
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Nine million OAPs will now get the benefit, meaning all but the richest will claw back the £200-£300 sum.
With a price tag of £1.25billion, this whole palaver has only saved the Treasury £450million.
It's chicken feed in the grand scheme of things, and a tenth of the annual migrant hotel bill.
But the political cost has been devastating.
Labour insiders trace their spanking at last month's local elections back to Ms Reeves' toxic decision in the weeks after the election.
That the winter fuel policy was still coming up on doorsteps 10 months later was a sign it was destined for the shredder.
Yet rather than ripping off the plaster cleanly, the past few weeks have seen an agonising u-turn mired in chaos and confusion.
And the Government is still not clear how the softening will be paid for, sparking inevitable fears of more tax rises.
Speculation continues to swirl around Ms Reeves' own political fate and whether she is in line for the chop.
We know Sir Keir Starmer can be ruthless in wielding the knife, but it is unclear this nuclear option would actually help.
Just ask Liz Truss about the perils of a PM sacking a Chancellor with whom they are ideologically joined at the hip.
Four years is a long time until the next general election, and Sir Keir and Ms Reeves will be hoping voters would have since moved on.
But - even with today's backing down - the winter fuel debacle is likely to live long in the memory of the electorate and haunt Labour for a very long time.
