Conference motion on winter fuel payment ‘doesn’t dictate’ policy – Starmer

A Labour conference motion “doesn’t dictate Government policy”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, after his party’s activists voted to condemn the introduction of winter fuel allowance means testing.

Delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool voted to “reverse the introduction of means-testing for the winter fuel allowance” as part of a union motion on Wednesday, which was non-binding.

Speaking to Channel 4 News after the debate, Sir Keir said he and his ministers had made “a difficult decision, taken because the last government left a £22 billion black hole”.

The Prime Minister said: “I do understand how, you know, colleagues in the Labour movement feel about this.

“This is clearly a difficult decision but a motion at conference doesn’t dictate Government policy.”

Unite the Union moved the motion and its general secretary Sharon Graham won rounds of applause when she urged the Government to restore universal payments of up to £300 for eligible people who had reached state pension age.

The Government announced in July it would issue payments only to pension credit recipients or claimants of some other means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit. Around 10 million people are set to lose the allowance this year.

“This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed,” Ms Graham said.

“We are the sixth richest economy in the world. We have the money.

“Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two.

“We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt.”

The union leader added: “Yes, Britain is broken. Yes, the Tories have left a mess and yes, they are to blame. But Labour is now in Government, and we can’t keep making every-day people pay.”

Alan Tate, of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the winter fuel payment cut had “overshadowed” the work of the new Labour Government.

He said: “The CWU has been inundated with emails and calls from our retired members worried about choosing between heating and eating.”

However, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the new Labour Government had “done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years”, including “the biggest ever drive to get pensioners on pension credit, backed by our commitment to the pensions triple lock”.

She told delegates and activists: “Focusing winter fuel payments on the poorest pensioners wasn’t a decision we wanted or expected to make, but when we promised we could be trusted with taxpayers’ money – we meant it.

“And when we were faced with a £22 billion black hole, which the Tories left this year, we had to act, because we know what happened when Liz Truss played fast and loose with the public finances. It was working people and pensioners on fixed incomes who paid the highest price.”

Simon Francis, End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator, said: “Labour conference has understood what ministers have failed to acknowledge, that removing the winter fuel payment at short notice and from so many people is wrong.”

Addressing the financial “black hole”, Sir Keir said: “£22 billion is a huge amount of money to find in one year. This is the black hole: the money they left off the books, didn’t declare to the country.

“That has to be done, and it has to be done this year, so there’s no easy choice within that.”

The Prime Minister added: “I don’t think for public services, we can take more money out of them. They’re already on their knees, so it’s difficult choices, but the purpose behind this, the reason that we’ve done this, is to stabilise the economy.”