Labour conference votes to reverse fuel payment cuts

Party divisions on policy exposed in blow to Keir Starmer

- MILLIE COOKE , ARCHIE MITCHELL

Delegates at the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool yesterday voted to reverse the introduction of “means-testing for the winter fuel allowance” as part of a union motion.

The vote will be seen as a blow for Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, even though motions at the party conference are nonbinding and the government is not required to respond to them. But it highlights major division within the party over the controversial policy.

Speaking to Channel 4 News after the debate, Sir Keir said he and his ministers had made “a difficult decision, taken because the last government left a £22bn black hole”. The PM said: “I do understand how, you know, colleagues in the Labour movement feel about this. This is clearly a difficult decision but a motion at conference doesn’t dictate government policy.”

In July, Rachel Reeves announced that older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits will no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards. The payment of either £200 or £300 is to help pensioners with their heating bills.