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       The chancellor said she had to make “difficult’ decisions after being left with a ￡22 billion blackhole in the public finances.

       Speaking on The Division Bell podcast, the Express’ political editor Sam Lister said the government is ‘doing over’ pensioners.

       She said: “I suspected this Labour government would do over pensioners. I really did not think it would come within three weeks of them taking power. Essentially, this change is huge.

       “Okay, they have protected the poorest pensioners, those who receive pension credit. But there is a cliff edge and so millions of other pensioners who are just beyond that trigger point – which is ￡218 a week – it's not a lot to live on, they are going to lose this this winter.”

       Ms Reeves is axing the universal winter fuel allowance, which is ￡200 for pensioners under 80 and ￡300 for those over, with immediate effect to save ￡1.5 billion.

       Instead, only people claiming pension credit and some other benefits will be eligible.

       Starmer ‘taking away money from pensioners’ says Lister

       It means the 11.4 million people currently in receipt will drop to just 1.5 million.

       The move means there will be a cliff-edge with many pensioners just above the breadline left having to find hundreds of extra pounds this year.

       Sam added: “This is a huge amount of money to take off pensioners just months before the winter.”

       “We saw a video of Keir Starmer during the election campaign talking about how he'd been really moved by a pensioner he'd met who spent all day wrapped in a fleece because they were so cold, they couldn't afford to put their heating on.”

       “And yet he's taking away money from pensioners who are on the breadline…essentially anybody on the new state pension.

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       “If they are entitled to the full state new state pension, they are not going to receive this winter fuel payment, even though they're essentially on ￡221 a [year].”

       “I understand that many people think that pensioners are all wealthy and they're all going off on cruises every week…actually millions are not in actual poverty, but they're not far off it. And they're really going to struggle this year.”

       For the full episode, listen to The Division Bell on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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