The Labour MP said the move is ‘frankly wrong’ and offers a ‘political opportunity’ to Britain First.
Labour MP Clive Lewis has spoken out against his own party’s plans to strip the vast majority of pensioners of Winter Fuel Allowance payments. At this year’s TUC Congress, Lewis argued that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’ proposed cuts to Winter Fuel Allowance are ‘frankly wrong’ and offer a ‘political opportunity’ to Britain First.
Lewis made the comments at a fringe meeting organised by Fuel Poverty Action called ‘Beyond Nationalisation: why we need energy for all’. Energy for All is a campaign calling for – among other things – all households to receive enough energy to cover their basic needs free of charge, with additional energy use being charged at a much higher rate.
At the meeting, Lewis said that he found it ‘very difficult to understand’ why the government is seeking to make cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance. He told the meeting: “The winter fuel payment goes to the heart of the British energy system and how it isn’t working for so many people. Now, pensioners – many of them – are on fixed incomes. And I find it very difficult to understand why we would want to save – and we wouldn’t save it, but let’s just call it a saving – £1.5 billion and at the same time punish a lot of people who fall off the cliff-edge of pension credit, who won’t be receiving the winter fuel payment.”
Lewis went on to argue that the cuts are unlikely to make the size of savings the government has suggested, and questioned the motivation behind the decision. He said: “I imagine that the number of people who become ill because of this will probably cost the NHS far more than we save. Now, I can’t prove that, but it doesn’t take a big leap of imagination to be able to work that out.
“So it then begs the question: Is this actually about saving the £1.5 billion, or is this more about political discipline rather than economic discipline? And I can’t answer that question, but I do have my suspicions that it’s more about political discipline. And I think to do that on some of the most vulnerable people in this country is frankly wrong and we shouldn’t be doing it.”
Following this, Lewis went on to make similar claims to those made by the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who told Left Foot Forward earlier the same day that austerity measures from the Labour Party may drive voters towards the far-right. Lewis argued that cutting Winter Fuel Allowance would give a ‘political opportunity’ to groups like Britain First. He said: “I don’t want a budget that’s going to allow Britain First to start producing leaflets saying ‘protect our pensioners before asylum seekers’. Because that’s what we’ve handed them.
“We’ve handed them a political opportunity to be able to say that – and we shouldn’t. We should be telling people that the Labour government in the sixth richest country is going to ensure that everyone that needs energy in this country is going to be able to have it.”
Later in the meeting, Lewis gave his backing to ‘Energy for All’, saying it’s an “idea whose time as come”, and that he was “so supportive of Energy for All”. These comments were made as part of a wider call for the introduction of Universal Basic Services – a system whereby all people would receive the basic public services they need for free – as is currently the case with healthcare and education – and for public services to be delivered in public ownership.
Lewis argued that publicly owned, universal services will be central to addressing the challenges posed by the climate emergency. “The resources that people need are going to increasingly require the power of the state, of public ownership, to be able to overcome those challenges”, Lewis said, adding: “energy is a classic one, water is another, healthcare is another – but we are increasingly going to see that we need the power of the state, public ownership and democratic control of those key assets to be able to ensure that we can provide for people in the future.”
Members of Parliament are expected to vote on the proposed cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance on September 10, with dozens of Labour MPs reportedly intending to abstain on the vote.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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