Labour Party’s own research admitted Winter Fuel cuts will kill thousands of pensioners
The party is once again being accused of rank hypocrisy after criticism of previous Tory plans was unearthed.
Union chief calls for winter fuel payment U-turn
The Labour Party published research just seven years ago claiming that cutting Winter Fuel Payments would kill thousands of pensioners, it has been revealed.
The party published the claims in 2017, when Sir Keir was a senior member of the Shadow Cabinet, pinpointing the precise number of deaths changes would cause.
Attacking Theresa May’s proposals, Labour predicted that there would be 3,850 excess deaths the following winter.
The research was published in the wake of Theresa May’s manifesto pledge to means test the winter fuel allowance, though unlike Labour Mrs May pledged to hold a post-election “consultation” on exactly what threshold would be the cut-off.
The Labour Party went into overdrive during that general election in criticising the plan, describing it as the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”.
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Their 2017 dossier continued: “Since the introduction of the winter fuel payment by Labour in 1997, allowing for significant variation in winter weather, deaths among the elderly have fallen from around 34,000 to 24,000.”
“Half of the almost 10,000 decrease in so-called 'excess winter deaths' – the rise in mortality that occurs each winter – between 2000 and 2012 was due to the introduction of the winter fuel allowance.”
Last night a sitting Labour MP described this revelation as proof of “blatant hypocrisy”.
They told the Daily Mail, which unearthed the previous Labour criticism of their own policy: “All those now reversing Gordon Brown's winter fuel allowance were Labour MPs when we fought against Theresa May's government's plans to scrap it in 2017.”
“Times change but the basic ethos and political principles of the largest parties should not be quite as interchangeable.”
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The finding comes as it’s reported up to 50 Labour MPs may refuse to back the Government in tomorrow’s crunch vote.
The party’s whips, who enforce Commons discipline, are busy bending their MPs arms in an attempt to stave off a humiliating rebellion, persuading furious MPs to merely abstain rather than vote against the make-or-break policy.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he is “not remotely happy” about withdrawing hundreds of pounds from some of Britain’s most vulnerable.
He said: “I think it is a tough choice and we've had plenty of political criticism for it, I think, which demonstrates the political pain of it.”
“I'm not remotely happy about it, and I'm not remotely happy about having to say to some of my constituents, 'I'm sorry that I'm going into work this week to vote for something that will take money away from you’.”
Today’s revelation is not the first time Labour has been accused of hypocrisy over the policy.
In August 2022, Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: “Looking ahead to winter is frightening."
“I’ve met pensioners who have no idea how they’ll heat their homes. Parents who will have to skip meals so their kids can eat.”
This afternoon, Nigel Farage replied: “What changed, @Keir_Starmer?”
