Starmer blames Tories for winter fuel cut, as unions win vote against the policy

The government is facing mounting pressure after Starmer refused to apologise for scrapping winter fuel allowance as ITV News' Political Correspondent Harry Horton is at the party's conference in Liverpool

Sir Keir Starmer has blamed the former Tory government for the cut to the winter fuel allowance, as he faced a blow on Wednesday after Labour members voted in favour of reversing the policy.

In an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, Starmer refused to apologise four times to pensioners for scrapping the allowance.

“The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22 billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.

"If there's one thing which, in my view, has hit pensioners harder than anything in the last few years, is when inflation went through the roof, because the last government lost control of the economy.

"I'm not going to let that happen to pensioners ever again", he told ITV.

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Starmer's government faced mounting pressure over the cut on Wednesday as the unions won a key non-binding vote calling for the policy to be reversed.

While it's non-binding, the motion which was put forward by Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) shows anger over the issue within the party.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham has described the policy as “cruel” and has called on the prime minister to admit he made a “misstep”.

Graham told ITV News: "I'm going to do everything in my power to drive this issue forward."

The vote had been due to take place on Monday, but was delayed until the final day of conference, to the frustration of the unions.

Many of the delegates and union officials have now left the conference in Liverpool.

The motion called for means testing of the winter fuel allowance to be reversed and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.

CWU General Secretary Dave Ward told the PA news agency that the union will continue to campaign for the policy to change.

“We don’t accept it is good economics,” he said.

The motion being debated says that workers and communities voted for change, “not cuts to the winter fuel allowance”.

“We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts and those that profited from decades of deregulation finally help to rebuild Britain,” it says.

The winter fuel payment was designed to ensure pensioners could afford to pay their energy bills during the cold winter months.

Previously, all pensioners could claim it, but now it will only be available to pensioners on certain benefits.

The cut means that around 10 million pensioners will lose the annual payment of £200 to £300 a year.

There was a vote in parliament on the cut earlier this month, in which MPs voted with the government in favour of scrapping the policy.

Starmer said in his conference speech on Tuesday that he understood concern over the allowance, but stressed that stabilising the economy was the first step of a long-term plan.

He said: “Every pensioner will be better off with Labour.”

Starmer left the Labour conference on Tuesday evening to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

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