'We will keep pensioners warm this winter', minister vows, despite winter fuel payment cut
21 September 2024, 12:46
The culture secretary - Lisa Nandy - has told LBC that the government will make sure no pensioner will be cold this winter.
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Her comments come as tension grows within Labour about means-testing the winter fuel allowance, so only the poorest pensions receive the benefit.
The decision to scrap the payment for millions of pensioners came after the government accused the Conservatives of creating a “black hole” in public finances.
Pensioners will also be forced to answer 243 questions over 22 pages in order to claim winter fuel payments.
Some MPs and union members are calling for a motion to be debated.
However, speaking to Matthew Wright on Saturday morning, the culture secretary said: "We will keep our pensioners warm and because of the pension triple lock we've ensured that no pensioner is going to be worse off this winter than they were last winter, and we're setting about fixing the foundations as well, so by setting up GB energy, Great British Energy, we're ensuring our energy security, making sure that we bring bills down through measures like home insulation, and getting on with doing what, frankly, we believe the government ought to have been doing for the last fourteen years."
Great British Energy formed the centrepiece of Labour’s promise to decarbonise the electricity supply by 2030.
The publicly owned energy company would be partly funded by tougher taxes for North Sea oil and gas companies, and it's local power plan would aim to provide funding to local authorities and communities to build small-scale clean power projects.
Nandy went on to say: "But the putting the power back into people's hands - it's not a nice to have or an extra thing that we're doing, it's righting what has been a historic wrong.
"Where for far too long for too many people, geography has been destiny, and we're creating those good jobs and opportunities in every part of the country and giving local leaders the power to be able to join up those services, drive that economic growth in their own communities and make sure that young people don't have to get out to, get on."
Meanwhile, this week Sir Keir came under fire after accepting work clothing donations worth £16,200, and multiple pairs of glasses, to the value of £2,485 from prominent Labour donor Lord Alli.
Until Friday, the PM had continued to defend his actions, but then Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said they would no longer accept donations to pay for clothing.
Nandy said Sir Keir had been honest about it and had done nothing wrong.
This morning, she said: "MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind, MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have, but the really important thing is that we're just open and transparent about those donations and about those donations."
