Sadiq Khan: ‘Keir Starmer didn’t get into politics to take things from people who need them’

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves didn’t get into politics to “take things from people who need them”, mayor of London Sadiq Khan has insisted, as backlash mounts over the government’s plan to cut winter fuel payments.

Later today (10 September), MPs will vote on plans to ditch universal winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners.

If the vote passes – all but a certainty, given Labour’s huge commons majority – only people on pension credits or other means-tested benefits will qualify for the payment, worth between £250 and £600.

• Elderly people’s lives in danger without winter fuel payment, Labour warned: ‘This is a mistake’
• Keir Starmer defends scrapping winter fuel payment for pensioners not on benefits

But campaigners have warned that the move could plunge pensioners into poverty. Up to 50 Labour MPs could abstain from voting on the bill, reports suggest.

Several have signed an Early Day Motion – a type of formal proposal in parliament – warning that the move “fails to take account for those people with modest incomes that are just above the entitlement threshold for pension credit.”

But London mayor Sadiq Khan has defended the PM, citing budgetary constraints inherited from the previous government.  

“One of the things that I’m angry about is discovering, speaking to colleagues in government, how bad things were when they took over on 4 July,” he told the Big Issue.

“I know these people, whether its Rachel Reeves or Keir Starmer. None of them went into politics to take things from people who need them. But clearly, what they’ve got to do is balance the books to make sure they can pay for things going forward.”

But the Labour mayor also hinted at the negative consequences of the cut.

“In my view, we need to give evidence to the government’s new taskforce to explain to them why there are certain people across our city, across our country, who need support who aren’t receiving it,” he said.

Labour party research commissioned in 2017 showed that plans to means test the payment would be the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation” and could kill 4,000 payments.

Khan’s comments echo Starmer’s defence of the cut. In a Sunday interview with the BBC, the prime minister reiterated his line that he is “willing” to be unpopular.

“I am absolutely convinced that we will only deliver that change, and I’m absolutely determined that we will, if we do the difficult things now,” he said.

“I know they are unpopular; I know they’re difficult, of course they’re tough choices.”

The winter fuel payment cut will save the government around £1.5bn. This will go some way to filling the £22bn “fiscal black hole” left by the previous government, chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed.

Nonetheless, the cut will be painful for the elderly people who lose the payment support.

Speaking to the Big Issue, Jonathan Bean – a campaigner with Fuel Poverty Action – described the new approach as “dangerous”.

 “A lot of people don’t want to upset the Labour government. We’re very happy to upset them. A lot of groups think: ‘It’s better than the Tories. Let’s give them time. There’s no pressure.’ That’s not how we operate,” he said. “We want to tell the truth, regardless of what colour is in power. And Labour has clearly made a mistake.”

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