YES! IT WILL BE 'PAINFUL' FOR BRITAIN'S ELDERLY THIS WINTER.

Keir Starmer criticised for targeting pensioners to fill budget “black hole'

- Michael Knowles

SIR Keir Starmer's decision to axe winter fuel payments "has the potential to create a health emergency", warn campaigners.

The PM paved the way for tax hikes and spending cuts yesterday by saying the Budget will be "painful" for millions of Britons.

But the Government was warned pensioners should not be at the front line of financial pain caused by cutbacks. Charities say some will face the devastating choice between heating their homes or eating after energy bills go up and the winter fuel payment is means tested.

Sir Keir, in his speech in the Downing Street rose garden, said he was trying to tackle a "rot" in the nation and stressed he "didn't want" to cut universal cold weather payments for 10 million pensioners.

But Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: "The winter fuel payment axe is not about rot in the system, it is about basic fairness for older people facing soaring energy bills.

"This has the potential to create a public health emergency which will actually create more pressure on the under-pressure NHS which the Prime Minister says he wants to fix.

"In real terms, the changes this winter mean that some older people will face the highest energy bills on record.

"The impact of living in cold, damp homes is particularly harsh on those older people with a disability, a long-term health condition or with poor mental health. It results in people turning to the NHS and, in some cases, can result in additional winter deaths."