Winter fuel payments could be Starmer's poll tax
The cut to winter fuel payments could put the elderly at risk of death during the imminent cold snap.
Not our words, but those of the Government's own health watchdog. The UK Health Security Agency has issued an amber alert, meaning that a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, is likely.
Age UK says worried pensioners have already been contacting the charity for advice on what to do if the weather takes a turn for the worse, and we're only in January. The dangers of a prolonged, cold winter do not bear thinking about.
Most people recognise the previous winter fuel payments scheme needed some form of means testing, and it was clearly absurd that payments were going to the likes of Lord Sugar or Sir Richard Branson. But the ham-fisted way the Government has gone about this, abruptly stopping payments for all but the very poorest of pensioners at a time of rocketing energy costs, has been little short of cruel.
The Prime Minister would do well to remember how Margaret Thatcher's premiership never recovered from the controversial community charge, or 'poll tax' as it became known, passed by parliament just months after a landslide election victory. If Sir Keir wants to avoid a similar fate barely six months into the job, he needs to get a grip, fast.
For all our sakes, we must hope that the impending cold snap is not too serious, and that no lives are lost. And the Prime Minister needs to rethink this ill-considered policy as a matter of urgency.
If he doesn't, the present crisis may well turn into a full-blown disaster.