Why the Labour government is restricting the winter fuel payment for pensioners

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has doubled down on the government’s plan to restrict the winter fuel allowance to the most vulnerable pensioners in the face of a looming backbench rebellion. Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s parliamentary vote, Starmer told Laura Kuenssberg that it was an “unpopular” and “difficult” decision, but argued it was necessary to help bring about the change the economy needed. “Every Labour MP was elected on the same mandate as I was, which was to deliver the change that we need for the country,” he said. The government argues that it needs to place restrictions on the winter fuel allowance to help plug a £22bn black hole in the public finances, allegedly left by the previous Conservative administration. For more on the story 👇 https://www.cityam.com/keir-starmer-doubles-down-on-unpopular-decision-to-restrict-winter-fuel-payments/ Get more of City A.M. 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/cityam Produced by: Larissa Howie, Scarlett Wild