Real reason sir keir starmer u-turned over £300 winter fuel payment

THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER REPORTS SIR KEIR STARMER ROWED BACK ON THE £300 CUT BECAUSE IT'S "ALL PEOPLE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT". 06:01, 22 May 2025Updated 06:02, 22 May 2025 The

real reason the Labour Party government u-turned over the £300 Winter Fuel Payment has emerged. The Guardian newspaper reports Sir Keir Starmer rowed back on the £300 cut because it's

"all people wanted to talk about". After months of mounting anger from voters and pressure from MPs No 10 accepted a change on Wednesday. “It is all people wanted to talk about on

the doorstep,” said one source. “Some were upset about the coming cuts to disability benefits, some were exercised by immigration. But everyone was angry about winter fuel payments.” READ

MORE UK TOURISTS IN SPAIN WARNED TO STOP BOOKING 'SEVEN, 10 OR 14 DAY STAYS' “The decision was taken by the Treasury,” said one former government aide. “By the time Downing Street

saw it, it had already been factored into the forecasts and it was too late to change it.” “It comes up on the doorstep all the time. Winter fuel will lose us the next election, it was a

terrible mistake. But it’s probably too late for a U-turn now,” one cabinet minister lamented. Article continues below A group of MPs from “red wall” constituencies issued a joint statement.

“Responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn’t weak – it takes us to a position of strength,” it said. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and

Labour backbenchers are among those to ask how quickly the Government can implement the turnaround. Badenoch has written to the Prime Minister demanding to know whether the reversal would

“come into effect in time for payments to be made for this winter”, given a budget could be “six months away”. Article continues below She warned: “Pensioners are typically living on fixed

incomes. They need to be able to plan ahead. We have heard from many who have suffered through the past winter as a result of your Government’s callous decision to remove their winter fuel

payments. "Some have had to choose between heating and eating.” Labour Party MP Rachael Maskell said: “It seems that the sequencing of this would preclude people this coming winter,

unless they did something else to enable people to get it. “Now that’s an assumption that it is going to be predicated on a pension credit. We just don’t know. But it could mean that people

would then go cold for a further winter.”