This Labour government has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn. Their policy to strip 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments was cruel and vindictive from the start.
Millions of pensioners across the country have been anxious whether they will be able to heat their homes this winter. And they are angry, too. Angry we have £15 billion to spend on free housing and healthcare for illegal migrants, but not on our own.
They are equally astonished that Labour can find tens of billions to send to Mauritius for the Chagos Islands surrender, but can’t find enough cash to keep our pensioners from freezing in their own homes.
The cost of the Chagos “deal’ alone could pay for this winter fuel cut 23 times over. Politics is about choices and it’s a damning indictment on the priorities of Starmer’s government.
Brits will rightly be outraged that the supposed savings from cutting these winter fuel payments aren’t going to insulating homes - as Labour pledged during the campaign - but instead to foreign countries.
In my own constituency of Clacton, 25,000 pensioners have lost the allowance. Among them is 100-year-old Jim O’Dwyer, a war hero who flew 31 missions as a rear bomber in the Second World War.
As a result of a small pension that he receives, Jim will have his winter fuel payment stopped because of Rachel Reeves’ cruel policy. This is not how we should treat those that have served our country.
Of course, the Chancellor’s announcement of a limited restoration of winter fuel payments is a good start. But many pensioners, through no fault of their own, will continue to lose out if this isn’t reinstated fully.
I’m proud that Reform UK has been campaigning for a reversal of these cuts from day one. Back in October, I even delivered a Daily Express petition to Number 10 to demand that the winter fuel allowance be reinstated.
Reform MPs have voted against this measure, and we’ve publicly committed to restoring it, including for our heroes like Jim that have paid into the system. This is a matter of fairness.
Next week, the Chancellor has a chance to set the record straight. Her Spending Review is an opportunity to make up for her mistake and fully reinstate the winter fuel allowance. Anything less is a betrayal of British pensioners.