Chancellor Rachel Reeves axed the winter fuel allowance for ten million older people. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, the chancellor said: 'When confronted with a £22bn black hole I had to act'.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are facing fresh pressure over the decision to alter the winter fuel payment for pensioners as a Labour MP warned it could leave vulnerable old people in hospital.
Labour backbencher Rachael Maskell, chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on ageing and older people, told the BBC the decision would leave many pensioners to decide 'whether to put their heating on this winter'. Labour backbencher Rachael Maskell, chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on ageing and older people, told the BBC the decision would leave many pensioners to decide 'whether to put their heating on this winter'.
Advertisement While the cap does not limit a household's total bills, increasing it could see people going into the colder months facing higher bills than they have had since earlier in the year. She said: 'This latest bad news about the energy price cap rising quite significantly makes it even more obvious that means testing with virtually no notice and with no protections to safeguard vulnerable groups was the wrong policy choice and one that is potentially hazardous for some older people.'
The Government also insisted that more than one million pensioners would still receive the winter fuel payment and urged any pensioner worried about the impact of higher bills to check if they are eligible for pension credit.
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