US EditionStarmer announces U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts
- During PMQs on May 21, 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed intentions to increase the group of pensioners who qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment.
- This reversal followed criticism of earlier welfare reforms introduced last July, including means-testing cuts blamed for Labour’s poor local election results earlier this month.
- Minister Gordon Lyons called for a full reinstatement of the universal Winter Fuel Payment and urged a rethink of welfare reforms that reduce support for older people.
- Starmer recognized the ongoing cost-of-living challenges faced by pensioners and stated that the government aims to increase the number of pensioners qualifying for winter fuel payments in the future, with any decisions to be made based on affordability and reviewed during a fiscal event.
- The announcement signals a partial U-turn on benefit cuts, suggesting wider eligibility for winter fuel payments and reflecting government responsiveness to economic and political pressures.
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117 Articles
Starmer’s winter fuel allowance ‘U-turn’ sets him on a tricky path with backbenchers and voters
Turning things around? House of Commons/Flickr, CC BY-NC-NDThe U-turn is a long and, depending on your point of view, honourable or dishonourable tradition in British politics. Now Keir Starmer has been accused of following this tradition after heavily hinting the UK government is reconsidering last year’s decision to deny the winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners. As a reminder, the winter fuel payment is a lump sum of £200 or £300 pa…
Leftist PM Starmer Forced To Walk Back Winter Fuel Payment Cut for Pensioners After Major Blowback From Voters and Internal Labour Party Rebellion
If you lived all your life on the left, and built a career as a politician in the Labour party, always pretending to defend the poor citizens of your Kingdom, perhaps once you attained your dreamed premiership you should not start by cutting winter fuel payments for the struggling elderly while at the same time freeing dangerous criminals from jail to make up room.
Political opinion: Conservative MP Blake Stephenson welcomes Government’s Winter Fuel Payments u-turn
Blake Stephenson, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, has welcomed a u-turn by the Prime Minister on Winter Fuel Payments and thanked everyone on all sides for their tireless campaigning, including the wonderful charity AgeUK, with whom Blake has been working closely.
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