Diane Abbott has taken aim at Rachel Reeves over the Winter Fuel Payment (Image: Getty)
Labour MP Diane Abbott has called Rachel Reeves’ decision to axe Winter Fuel Payments “unsurprising”.
Ms Abbott took aim at the Chancellor, who also refused to lift the two-child benefit cap earlier this month.
Ms Abbott said: “Unsurprising that ？Rachel Reeves？ cuts winter fuel benefits and refuses to lift the two-child limit. She has long believed in cracking down on welfare.”
Labour ministers have been blasted by their own side over fears that more elderly people will die of cold as a result of Winter Fuel Payment change.
Introducing a means test for the Winter Fuel Payment, where only those on benefit qualify, is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving some ￡1.4 billion this financial year.
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Ms Abbott shared an article from 10 years ago where Ms Reeves vowed to cut the welfare bill and force long-term jobless to take up work offers or lose state support.
Ms Reeves, the then shadow work and pensions secretary, told how Labour will be tougher than the Tories when it comes to slashing the benefits bill.
Seven Labour MPs had the whip suspended for six months after voting last week against the government on an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell was among the Labour MPs who voted for an SNP motion calling for an end to the policy, which prevents almost all parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for more than two children.
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Mr McDonnell backed the SNP motion alongside Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana.
MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103, in the first major test of the new Labour government’s authority.