Heated debate

Pensioners go to Parliament over winter fuel allowance cut | Some may sell possessions to Keep warm, fearing deadly toll

- GRAHAM HISCOTT

A PENSIONER is planning to sell possessions so he and his disabled wife can afford heating this winter.

John Barnes, 71, says he has no choice but to put the heating on because Patricia has very bad arthritis.

Last winter the couple received £600 -£300 each in winter fuel payments to help pay their energy bills.

But the couple will miss out on the money this year because Patricia gets a small pension that takes them over the threshold for eligibility.

Mr Barnes, a retired self-employed landscape gardener who lives near Rhyl in North Wales, said: "It means we don't qualify for pension credit.

"We have totally lost out this year.

"That £600 paid for the heating all the way through last winter."

She added: "It's frightening. You try not to think about it. It's a timebomb for so many older people.

"We have no choice, we'll have to keep the heating on. It may be a case of selling possessions to afford the bill."

Mr Barnes was among hundreds who gathered outside Parliament yesterday to protest about the government's withdrawing of winter fuel payments for millions of older people.

Labour insists it was forced into the cut because the Tory government left a £22billion black hole in public finances.

Critics are still hoping for a U-turn from Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of her first Budget in three weeks' time.