Labour faces leftie backlash over Winter Fuel Payment cut as MPs threaten rebellion

The Green Party's co-leader has taken aim at Labour for failing on several issues.

By Steph Spyro, Environment Editor and Senior Political Correspondent

Green Party Autumn Conference 2024 - Day One

Adrian Ramsay speaking at Green Party Conference in Manchster (Image: Getty)

Labour is "getting it wrong" in "so many areas", the Green Party’s co-leader has said.

Adrian Ramsay took aim at Labour over its scrapping of winter fuel payments and for “sticking with the cruelty of the two-child benefit cap”.

In his first such speech since the Greens' major advance in July's general election, when it went from a single MP to four MPs, he said the party would challenge Labour where it was "off track" and "should be doing more" to deliver "positive, inspiring change".


He added: “We promised to hold the new Government to account where we think they are off track. Where they could and should be doing more.

“Where we think greater ambition is needed to deliver the positive, inspiring change that people urgently want to see.

“Because in so many areas, ones that matter deeply to so many of us, Labour is getting it wrong. Like denying winter fuel payments to millions of pensioners, giving the green light to new climate destroying airport expansion, and sticking with the cruelty of the two-child benefit cap.”

Mr Ramsay also attacked the “half-hearted” suspension of arms sales to Israel after Foreign Secretary David Lammy blocked 30 of the UK’s 350 export licences to the country.

He told how people who voted for the Greens "desperately wanted to see the back of the Conservatives".

He added: "And they were uninspired by the lacklustre offers and u-turns coming from the Labour party."



Mr Ramsay accused the Government of not being “prepared to do what’s required to fix” the NHS dentistry crisis.

The Green Party has vowed to end Britain’s ‘dental deserts’ by restoring full access to NHS dentistry after years of cuts that left millions unable to get affordable dental treatment.

The co-leader said: “We know this and so does Labour – and yet they are not prepared to do what’s required to fix it.

“In fact, Labour’s answer to this problem is to welcome and rely even more heavily on the private sector.

“They claim there is no other way – but that’s just not true. They just lack the ambition and vision to do things differently.”


Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?