Chancellor Rachel Reeves has urged Labour MPs to back her plan to cut winter fuel payments. More than nine million pensioners will no longer be eligible for up to £300 this winter after Ms Reeves announced the introduction of means-testing following Labour’s election win.
There are concerns dozens of Labour MPs could abstain in a vote on the policy in Parliament later, amid worry pensioners on modest incomes may miss out this winter. In a call for solidarity ahead of that vote, Ms Reeves said the blame should fall on “reckless decisions” on public finances by the Conservatives. Addressing MPs at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening, the chancellor told them: “We stand, we lead and we govern together.
Ms Reeves added: “It is the right thing to do, to target money at a time when finances are so stretched, at people who need them most. She said the government’s commitment to the triple lock meant the state pension had risen by around £900 compared with a year ago. Under the triple lock the state pension goes up each year by either 2.5%, inflation, or average earnings – whichever is the highest figure.
This means that from April, the full state pension is expected to rise by £460 a year, following the release of the latest official wages data. Ms Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insist the winter fuel payment cut – worth about £1.5bn – is necessary to fill an alleged £22bn “black hole” in the budget left by the previous Conservative government.
Source: BBC
In other news – Star Wars and The Lion King actor James Earl Jones has died
Jones, a longtime sufferer of diabetes, died at his home surrounded by family members, his agent Barry McPherson said. No cause of death was provided.
He appeared in Conan the Barbarian, played Eddie Murphy’s dad in Coming to America and starred in The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games. Read more
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