Sir Keir said: “Look, we took difficult decisions, but the right decisions, at the budget, including the decision that we took on winter fuel.”
A huge change to the £300 Winter Fuel Payment is on the cards as Sir Keir Starmer opens the door to a U-turn. 200 Labour Party backbenchers have signed their name to a secret letter calling on the PM to change the £300 Winter Fuel Allowance eligibility.
60 say they are ready to actively defy whips and vote against the cuts. Sir Keir said: “Look, we took difficult decisions, but the right decisions, at the budget, including the decision that we took on winter fuel.
“As a result of those decisions. I mean, they were taken specifically with the purpose of stabilising the economy. And I think we’re seeing the evidence of that in the interest rate cuts and the growth figures.”
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When pressed in Albania on whether he would u-turn, Labour Party leader Sir Keir said: “So, they were difficult decisions but they were right decisions.”
Labour MPs have been piling pressure on the government to change its mind on plans for £5bn benefit cuts from the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ), too, before a vote on “stage one” of its welfare plans in early June.
The government is planning to come back for “stage two” this autumn, the Guardian has been told. Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika, a former adviser to Ed Miliband when he was party leader, warned of the “anger and political damage” the policy had caused. “If the government wanted to show it was listening, this would be a good start,” she said.
The veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott posted on X: “Reviewing it is not enough for pensioners. It is also not enough to restore Labour’s battered reputation. The winter fuel allowance must be restored in full.”
Last week the government quashed reports of a u-turn, with the prime minister’s spokesperson telling reporters there would be “no change” despite political and public pressure to do so.
“The government has set out its policies and the reasons behind these policies. There is no change to the government policy,” he added.