Keir Starmer looks set to bow to pressure for a vote on the winter fuel allowance axe amid a brewing Labour revolt.
The government had previously batted away calls from the Tories and Lib Dems to put the issue before the Commons.
Instead ministers were going to force the move to means test the benefit through using a so-called ‘negative’ statutory instrument.
However, senior sources now believe a vote could be held as early as next week. There had been doubts over whether the government could avoid a showdown, with the Conservatives able to use Opposition time to force a division. Â
The apparent shift emerged as Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the winter fuel change during a torrid question session in the chamber – insisting older people had already enjoyed big state pension rises.
The apparent shift emerged as Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the winter fuel change during a torrid question session in the chamber
Ms Reeves was grilled by shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the Commons today
She faced repeated warnings from her own MPs and Opposition benches about the potential consequences of stopping winter fuel payments for people in England and Wales who do not get Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits.
The policy is expected to strip around 10million pensioners of the £300 payments, saving around £1.4billion this year.
Speaking at Treasury questions, Ms Reeves said she would not speculate on next month’s Budget after the Conservatives urged her to guarantee that she will not increase taxes on pensions.
She told the Commons: ‘I understand that members from across the House will have questions on the tax system for me today. I remind them that tax announcements will be made in the Budget on October 30, alongside an independent forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility.’
The Chancellor blamed the previous Conservative administration for leaving a ‘£22billion black hole’ due to ‘unfunded spending commitments’ with ‘no idea how to pay for them’.
She said: ‘When I became Chancellor I took an immediate audit of the spending situation to understand the scale of that challenge, and I made difficult decisions to put the public finances on a sustainable footing. They were tough decisions, but they were the right decisions.
‘This includes the decision to make the winter fuel payment better targeted so pensioners who need it most will get it alongside pension credits.’
Labour MP Rachael Maskell warned the average rent rise in York of 11.9 per cent exceeded the state pension rise by £380 this year.
She said: ‘With the loss of the cost-of-living payments and winter fuel payments, an increase in the energy price cap and cost of living, pensioners are frightened about how they’re going to keep warm this winter – as am I.’
The York Central MP asked Ms Reeves how she will protect pensioners who are above the Pension Credit threshold in order to ‘prevent cold, ill health or worse this winter’.
Ms Reeves replied: ‘The basic state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and will go up again in April next year because of the triple lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this Parliament.’
She added the Government is working with local authorities to boost the take-up of Pension Credit.
The triple lock guarantees the state pension will rise by inflation, average wage growth or 2.5 per cent.
Labour MP Paula Barker said the charity Age UK reports there are around one million pensioners who ‘just miss out’ on the winter fuel payment, noting: ‘These are people living on modest incomes within £50 of the poverty line, who will miss out due to a tiny occupational pension – including many in Liverpool Wavertree.’
Labour MP Rachael Maskell warned the average rent rise in York of 11.9 per cent exceeded the state pension rise by £380 this year
She asked whether Pension Credit will be backdated, with Ms Reeves confirming it can be for up to three months.
Conservative former minister Dame Harriett Baldwin said Ms Reeves had made a ‘chilling political choice to balance the books of this country on the very frailest shoulders’.
Wendy Morton, another Tory former minister, said thousands of pensioners in her Aldridge-Brownhills constituency are ‘worried at the prospect’ of losing their winter fuel payment ‘on which they rely’.
She asked Ms Reeves: ‘Will she reconsider and reverse her decision?’
The Chancellor referred to increases to the state pension, adding: ‘But it is important that we ensure that the 800,000 people who missed out on Pension Credit under the previous Conservative government now get access to that support, because those are the poorest pensioners, and at the moment they are living in poverty because the previous government failed to sign them up to Pension Credit.’
Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling earlier said 21,000 pensioners will be impacted by the cut in his constituency of Torbay.
