OPINION
Winter fuel payment petition being handed to No10 (Image: Getty)
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On the face of it, this looks like a screeching U-turn from a Labour Government reeling from their recent elections’ humiliation.
Victory is certainly in sight for the Silver Voices/Daily Express campaign. But there is also a possibility that this is mostly a spin operation to buy time, help Labour to get through the difficult spending review and persuade Labour backbenchers not to vote against the proposed disability cuts.
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The Prime Minister was careful to say that he wanted “more” pensioners to get the winter fuel payment, without saying how many more.
He alluded to raising the eligibility level for the payment, which is currently set at the ludicrously low pension credit level of ￡227 per week. And in answer to a question, he ducked the issue of full restoration of this universal benefit.
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He did not say when a change of policy would be announced, apart from at a “fiscal event”, which may not be in time for next winter.
Over 10 million older people lost the winter fuel payment last year, and a significant proportion of them struggled to pay their energy bills as a result.
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Many cut down on food, wore outdoor clothes indoors or gave up their social activities as a result.
So, it will not be acceptable if this so-called U-turn provides a marginal lift in the eligibility level benefiting a few hundred thousand extra pensioners, as welcome as that would be to them.
The winter fuel cuts have become the Reeves/Starmer poll tax, symbolic of a wider voter mistrust and frustration, so if there is to be a U-turn it needs to be a big one.
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A minor adjustment will not cut the mustard and would be seen as yet another betrayal by Silver Voices members.
The way for the Government to regain some trust from voters would be to admit the genuine mistake made while trying to cope with economic pressures, and restore the universal winter fuel payment in full. Unaccustomed honesty from politicians would certainly be admired.
Silver Voices will continue to campaign for the best possible outcome to this sad, but avoidable, saga.