Keir Starmer faces growing unrest over axing winter fuel payments

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Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting criticism from Labour MPs and party grandees over his plans to scrap £1.5bn in winter fuel payments for pensioners, ahead of a Commons vote on the issue next Tuesday.

In a sign of the problem facing the prime minister, 10 Labour MPs have signed a non-binding early-day motion calling for the measure to be delayed, while peers have also criticised the policy that would end support for 10mn pensioners.

“When we won the election, there was a lot of hope, and that sense of hope is being chipped away,” said Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South who is on the left of the party and is one of the signatories of the motion.

Labour peers also attacked the plan at a private meeting on Wednesday, according to people who attended. Lord David Blunkett, a former home secretary, was “very strong” in his criticism, they added.

Blunkett declined to comment, but another Labour peer said: “They have mishandled this badly.”

The Conservatives hope to exploit the growing tensions in the governing party over the policy in a vote brought forward by them on the issue next week too, a move that was grudgingly conceded by the government on Thursday.

Other opposition parties including the Liberal Democrats also oppose the cut, which was announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in July as one of the “painful decisions” needed to close what she claimed was a £22bn fiscal hole.

“We welcome that the Labour government have U-turned and there will now be a vote on the Conservative motion to scrap the cruel cut to winter fuel payments,” said Mel Stride, a Tory leadership contender.

The row is a big test for Starmer, who has vowed to press ahead with the plan as part of what he claims is a vital shoring up of the public finances. More spending cuts and tax rises are expected in the Budget on October 30.

But the decision to axe winter fuel payments — worth £200 or £300 depending on individual circumstances — for all but the poorest pensioners has shaken many Labour MPs.

Lewis said this was “the second difficult position” Labour MPs had faced since the election, following the decision to retain the Conservatives’ controversial two-child benefit cap.

New Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan — who won his Poole constituency with a majority of just 18 votes — has tabled the early-day Commons motion calling for a delay in the removal of the winter fuel payment, on the grounds there had been no proper consultation or Treasury impact analysis.

Starmer has previously shown himself willing to take tough action against those who defy the party whip and vote against government policy, setting up what could be a tense Commons vote next week.

Among those backing Duncan-Jordan’s motion are several Labour MPs, including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who lost the whip after defying the prime minister in a vote on the two-child benefit cap.

Although Starmer has warned he is prepared to take tough decisions early in his premiership, polling suggests his policies are exacting a toll on his popularity.

A YouGov survey last week found that the share of UK adults who had a negative view of Starmer’s government had surged by about 20 points in a month to 51 per cent.

This week Starmer has tried to contain the row by stressing his commitment to the pension “triple lock”, which the prime minister said would increase the state pension by about £1,000 over five years.

Ed Balls, a former Labour shadow chancellor, said on his Political Currency podcast that Starmer would be looking at polling and saying: “‘This is a big problem and it’s going to get worse.’ I don’t think you can just plough on.”

Tory leader Rishi Sunak claimed that Starmer had chosen to take money off poor pensioners to help fund big pay rises for public sector workers. “Why did he choose train drivers over Britain’s vulnerable pensioners,” Sunak said on Wednesday.