Watch as MPs in the House of Commons debate Labour’s proposed cuts to the winter fuel allowance on Tuesday, 10 September.
Sir Keir Starmer has faced fierce criticism over the plans, but has said he will not apologise for the changes his government have made.
Addressing the Trades Union Congress on Tuesday, the prime minister said: “I make no apologies for any of the decisions we have had to take to begin the work of change and no apologies to those still stuck in the 1980s who believe that unions and business can only stand at odds leaving working people in the middle.”
TUC president Matt Wrack has warned that a second wave of austerity will boost the rise of the far right in Britain’s left-behind communities and spoke out against the winter fuel allowance cut.
Labour’s Cabinet is united behind plans to dramatically scale back the allowance, Downing Street has insisted amid mounting calls, including within party ranks, for the government to soften the policy.
However, Sir Keir is likely to face a backbench rebellion in a Commons vote; some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan, one of the parliamentary party’s newly elected members, calling on the government to delay implementing the cut.
The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.
Labour insists the cut is necessary to help fill a £22bn “black hole” in this year’s budget left by their Conservative predecessors.