Rachel Reeves Doubles Down On Winter Fuel Cut Despite Threat Of Labour Rebellion
4 min read
The Government is not budging on its decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners despite unease within the Parliamentary Labour Party.
On Tuesday, MPs will vote on the new Labour Government's contentious move to remove the winter fuel allowance for who are not entitled to pension benefits. The support is currently available to all pensioners, but Reeves and Starmer have decided to make it means tested.
Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has repeatedly said that she does not want to take this step but has to in order to help fill what the Government describes as a £22bn "black hole" in the public finances left by the previous Conservative administration.
This is a message she reiterated in a meeting with Labour MPs on Monday night.
“There are more difficult decisions to come," she told a room full of Labour MPs.
"I don't say that because I relish it. I don't, but it is a reflection of the inheritance that we face.
"So, when members are looking at where to apportion blame, when pensioners are looking where to apportion blame, I tell you where the blame lies. It lies with the Conservatives and the reckless decisions that they made."
Speaking earlier in the day, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesperson said there was no dissent in Cabinet when they discussed the issue in a meeting on Monday morning.
However, Starmer and Reeves face the prospect of a back bench rebellion when the decision is put to a House of Commons vote on Tuesday afternoon.
Seventeen MPs have signed an early day motion opposing the cuts to the benefit at the time of writing. Signatories include prominent left-wing Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis. Some MPs who have also signed it like John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana currently do not have the Labour whip having rebelled against the Government in July.
Labour has a large 167-strong majority as a result of its 4 July General Election victory, so there is little doubt the Government will win the vote tomorrow. But those involved in the planned rebellion claim up to 50 Labour MPs could defy Starmer by voting against the Government or abstaining, potentially creating a major headache for the Prime Minister.
“You wouldn’t think we were a government in its first 100 days,” said one Labour left MP.
However, one Labour MP who plans to vote with the Government tomorrow said the idea that 50 back benchers could rebel on Tuesday is fanciful, and claimed that a far larger number of back benchers would be angry if Starmer and Reeves performed a late U-turn.
“We can’t be a government that ducks big decisions because they’re short-term politically difficult," they told PoliticsHome.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Starmer said his Government was going to have to deal with being "unpopular" because it needs to make "tough decisions" to help repair the economy.
"Popular decisions aren’t tough, they’re easy,” the PM said. “When we talk about tough decisions, I'm talking about… the things that last government ran away from, that government's traditionally run away from.”
Diana Johnson, the policing minister, on Monday told the BBC Radio 4 ministers could bring forward measures to mitigate the impact of the cut on affected pensioners. However, Government sources later said she had mispoken and that there were no plans to do so.
Potential rebels told PoliticsHome Government Whips had not offered an olive branch or any suggestion that Starmer and Reeves were prepared to compromise on the matter. “This is no way to treat people,” said one Labour MP who planned to abstain at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, the Treasury is urging people who are entitled to pension credit but do not receive it, estimated to be around 800,000 people, to sign up to ensure they receive the support.
The Prime Minister's official spokesperson said this morning there had been an 115 per cent increase in people applying for it over the last five weeks as a result of the communications campaign, but acknowledged that there was more work to do to signiciantly increase uptake.
Additional reporting by Adam Payne.
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