It seems we have replaced a sleazy, greedy Tory Government with heartless, champagne Socialists who failed to mention that their manifesto pledge “10 Labour policies to change Britain” would include robbing pensioners of the winter fuel allowance. Now, before the “baby-boomer bashers” bleat on about home-owning, rich, middle-class pensioners, I should make it clear that I am talking about those vulnerable pensioners who are set to be denied the winter fuel allowance because they do not qualify for pension credit by a few pounds a week when assessing income. The cost of heating homes under the energy price cap is set to increase by 10pc shortly, and those now living on the breadline may be facing a choice of heat or eat when £200 to £300 is cut from their annual income at a stroke.
It is difficult to conceive that it really is a Labour government committing daylight robbery from some of the most vulnerable in our society. I thought it would be the government of social justice. It was always a flaw in the winter fuel allowance scheme that the payment was universal and it should have involved some measure of means testing, but to simply sweep it away without any regard to unintended consequences is a callous act.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, suggests a stop-gap solution to allow better targeting of the allowance and urges the Government to consider it. "There's a usable precedent from the emergency energy crisis measures announced in April 2022, whic.
