Starmer breaks silence on winter fuel u-turn with new update 'within days'

THE LABOUR PARTY HAS BEEN URGED TO QUICKLY CLARIFY WHICH PENSIONERS WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE THE £200 OR £300 HANDOUT IN THE FUTURE. 14:45, 02 Jun 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has hinted at a

Winter Fuel Payments climbdown – and the UK could find out "within days". The Labour Party has been urged to quickly clarify which pensioners will continue to receive the £200 or

£300 handout in the future. The Prime Minister hinted that an announcement about the payment might be made during the spending review on June 11. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today

programme, the Prime Minister said: "I want to look again at where the threshold is. That’s for sure. I’ll be clear with you. "In relation to that, I do think it was our duty to

stabilise the economy and to fill in that £22billion black hole. And I’m not going to resile from that." READ MORE SMART MOTORWAYS COULD BE SCRAPPED FROM ENGLAND ENTIRELY Ministers

"need to be absolutely clear where the money is coming from" before they set out details of a partial U-turn on the winter fuel payment, Sir Keir said. Article continues below He

added: "But I take your point, which is that if we want to look again at which pensioners are eligible, then the sooner we have clarity on that, the better." Sir Keir did not rule

out that further details could come at the spending review next week, only saying there were "lots of moving parts" in the review. Angela Rayner has suggested she could not

guarantee the payment would be restored in time for this winter, amid reports that the Treasury is looking at restoring the allowance to all but the richest pensioners. Article continues

below “I think that we’ve got the upcoming spending review, and I’m sure that the chancellor will set it out when we’ve got the opportunity, at the first opportunity, she will set out what

we’ll be able to do,” Rayner said. Asked on Sky News if more detail would come at the spending review in less than a fortnight, she said: “I mean, the prime minister has announced it, so

logically to me that indicates that the prime minister wants to do something in this area. "And if the prime minister wants to do that, I’m sure the chancellor is going to look at how

we can achieve that.”