SIR Keir Starmer’s plan to strip 10 million pensioners of winter fuel payments did not even convince 50 of his own MPs, Rishi Sunak has blasted.
The Tory leader tore into the PM during an fiery clash at Prime Minister’s Questions.
2
He accused him of “repeatedly refusing to admit or to publish the consequences of his decision” on winter fuel allowance.
And he mocked Sir Keir after dozens of Labour MPs did not back the cut in a crunch vote yesterday.
No vote was recorded for 53 Labour MPs, though only one, John Trickett, voted against the government.
Around 40 did not have permission to miss the vote and are thought to have abstained in protest at the policy.
The PM continued to defend the policy, insisting increases in pensions “will outstrip any loss of payment” as a result of the triple lock.
He also blamed the previous Tory Government, saying: “Before he complains about us clearing up his mess, perhaps he’d like to apologise for the £22 billion black hole.”
Referring to the Government benches, Mr Sunak said: “They’re shouting now, those arguments didn’t even convince 50 of his own MPs, who suddenly found that they had urgent business elsewhere yesterday.
“But we know why he’s hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So, are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?”
Sir Keir Starmer replied: “We’re taking this decision to stabilise the economy, that means we can commit to the triple lock, by committing to the triple lock we can make sure that payments of state pension are higher, and therefore there’s more money in the pocket of pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action that we need to take.
“But (Mr Sunak) goes around pretending that everything’s fine. That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”
Mr Sunak then responded: “Pensioners watching will have seen that the Prime Minister has repeatedly refused to admit or to publish the consequences of his decision, and we will continue holding him to account for that.”
The two leaders’ exchange comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves reiterated it is “absolutely right” to means-test the benefit, worth up to £300.
Ms Reeves told broadcasters: “We faced a situation when I became Chancellor that there was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances this year.
“That meant we had to make difficult decisions, tough decisions, to get a grip of those public finances so that we could bring stability back to the economy.
“These weren’t decisions that I wanted to make. They weren’t decisions that I expected to make, but in the circumstances that we faced it was absolutely right to make sure that our public finances were on a firmer footing.
“Because only through doing that do we have the chance to bring stability back to our economy and start to grow the economy after 14 years of stagnation.”
