5 hours ago
8
While Keir Starmer’s U-turn is welcome, it’s probably far too late – the damage has been done and winning back support will not be easy (Keir Starmer confirms U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts, 21 May). I canvassed almost daily in my constituency and found that we had completely alienated many former longstanding Labour voters over the winter fuel allowance and personal independence payment. On the door, their response was resigned anger, with many saying that we had abandoned Labour policies and they didn’t understand why. Most didn’t pivot to Reform UK, they simply didn’t vote.
To U-turn any policy without some acknowledgment of it being a dreadful mistake will probably lead to even more anger and deeper distrust. We are not only losing voters but party activists as well. Members are resigning because of their disagreement with government policies on a range of issues.
We need more than a U-turn. Instead, a complete reset is required, but I’m not holding my breath. I doubt that the current leadership is capable of doing anything without being forced into it and, if they do, that will enable the cheerleaders for Reform to make cynical political capital of the situation we find ourselves in.
Ian Jenkinson
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire
Finally, Keir Starmer reluctantly announces that the government is considering reinstating the winter fuel payment, at least for some pensioners, although the exact details have not been released as yet. He has done so because he’s been forced into it by public demand and belatedly realises that the appallingly callous decision is largely responsible for the fact that Labour polled so badly in the recent council elections.
Starmer and Rachel Reeves will never be forgiven for this. Their reputation is now indelibly damaged, and quite rightly so. Ruthlessly targeting the poorest, most vulnerable members of society was indefensible.
In 2017, Labour itself cited research to argue that as many as 4,000 lives would be put at risk by Conservative plans to scrap winter fuel payments. So Starmer and Reeves would have been fully aware of the potential consequences of what they were doing. But they went ahead and did it anyway simply to save a measly £1.5bn.
Linda Evans
London
There are moral and pragmatic political reasons for a U-turn on scrapping the winter fuel allowance. Merely tinkering with the means-tested eligibility criteria will still leave some, potentially many, elderly pensioners vulnerable to the cold this coming winter, and the political fallout will continue unabated.
It would be far wiser to make winter fuel allowance a universal non-means-tested benefit to ensure all those who need it receive it. Does it really make any significant difference to the exchequer if, as is often cited, a handful of millionaires was also eligible, given that they will have contributed more income tax during their lifetimes?
Dr Guy Spence
Bude, Cornwall
There is a simple way of ensuring that those pensioners who need the extra help with their winter fuel bills get it, while those who are wealthy enough not to need it don’t – give it as a universal benefit and then claw it back through the tax system. That’s what taxes are for, among other things.
Hazel Davies
Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside
