Winter fuel allowance latest: Up to 50 Labour MPs could rebel over cut as Starmer defends ‘unpopular’ move

Health secretary Wes Streeting has said he is “not remotely happy” on having to vote to “take money away” from pensioners through cutting winter fuel allowance, but argued it is essential to balance public finances.

He told Sky News: “I think it is a tough choice, and we’ve had plenty of political criticism for it, I think, which demonstrates the political pain of it.

“I’m not remotely happy about it, and I’m not remotely happy about having to say to some of my constituents, I’m sorry that I’m going into work this week to vote for something that will take money away from you.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said that he will “have to be unpopular” to restore the public finances from the dire inheritance left by the Conservatives, as he faces a rebellion over his cut to the winter fuel allowance.

Accusing his predecessors of “running away from difficult decisions”, the prime minister said Labour can only deliver change if he makes “tough choices” now.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has more in this report:

A total of 12 Labour MPs are among the 26 to have so far signed a Commons early day motion stating their opposition to the government’s winter fuel allowance cut, ahead of Tuesday’s binding vote.

The motion, tabled by Labour’s Neil Duncan-Jordan, has also been signed by five of the seven MPs who had the Labour whip removed in July for voting against the two-child benefit cap.

Signatories include former shadow ministers such as Jon Tricket, John McDonnell, Clive Lewis and Ian Lavery, as well as Labour MPs Rachael Maskell, Nadia Whittome, Kim Johnson, Kate Osborne, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Dr Simon Opher, Chris Hinchcliff and Mary Kelly Foy.

As many as 50 Labour MPs could rebel against chancellor Rachel Reeves’ cut to the winter fuel allowance in Tuesday’s vote, a report suggests.

With MPs fearing voting against the policy after Sir Keir Starmer removed the Labour whip from seven MPs who voted against him on the two-child benefit cap, dozens are reportedly considering abstaining or being absent – but rebels say their numbers are very difficult to predict.

One Labour MP told The Guardian: “I’d expect the vast majority of anyone who does rebel to abstain, and remain inside the tent. Abstention is the new rebellion. It’s a question of defining what dissent is, and it’s probably better to do this than to jump off a cliff.”

Around 10 million people are expected to be directly impacted by the plans announced by the chancellor in July – prompting gasps in the House of Commons – to cut the winter fuel payments first introduced by her predecessor Gordon Brown in 1997.

The decision, made ahead of Ms Reeves’s first budget next month, will axe the payment of up to £300 for all pensioners except those in receipt of those claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits.

My colleague Albert Toth has more details on the cut here:

Labour frontbenchers and MPs have reportedly expressed fears that chancellor Rachel Reeves’s “brutal” plan to scrap the winter fuel allowance for all but the poorest pensioners will put more older people in hospital.

With MPs set to vote on the policy on Tuesday, Labour politicians have expressed their own grave concerns amid a flood of worried emails from constituents reported by The Independent to have shocked new MPs in particular.

In remarks to The Guardian, anonymous Labour MPs lined up to relay the sheer volume of the correspondence they have received on the issue, with one saying: “I don’t think there is a Labour MP who isn’t worried … I’ve had more people stopping me in the street than over Brexit. Pensioners just pleading that we don’t do this.”

One cabinet source complained to the paper that the policy “hasn’t even been thought through properly”, warning: “We’re going to end up with more old people in hospital or care as a result, with all the costs involved in that.”

Another MP said: “It’s going to save us £1.5bn but that won’t be worth the political hit we’ll take this winter. The right-wing press will be full of stories about elderly people sitting in A&E or on buses because they can’t afford their fuel bills and it’s the only way they can keep warm.”

Good morning, and thanks for joining us on The Independent’s politics blog, where we’ll be bringing you live updates as pressure grows on Sir Keir Starmer’s government over cutting of the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners.