Elderly residents across Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead are set to lose out on winter fuel payments after a Conservative effort to block the government’s plans failed in Parliament.
The controversial decision from the Labour government, taken to address the £22 million ‘black hole’ in its finances, went to vote in the to the House of Commons on Tuesday 10 September.
The vote attempted to block the decision from going ahead – meaning those that voted for wanted winter fuel payments to continue, and those that voted against wanted them to be scrapped.
Slough’s MP Tan Dhesi voted against an opposition motion to block restrictions to winter fuel payments in Parliament on Tuesday 10 September.
MP for Windsor, Jack Rankin, voted in favour of the motion. The Conservative branded the decision as ‘punishing’ 14,000 residents across his constituency.
Joshua Reynolds, Liberal Democrat representative for Maidenhead, also voted in favour of the motion attempting to block the cuts.
The payments were first introduced by the Labour government in 1997 as a universal benefit for people born after 1958. They are between £200 and £300.
A total of 347 Labour MPs voted for the cut, while 228 MPs including Conservative, Liberal Democrat, DUP and SNP representatives opposed the plans.
Labour MPs were whipped to vote against the motion, and only one Labour MP rebelled to vote to support blocking the cuts. Some Labour MPs also abstained, but many of these abstentions were due to them not being present at the vote.
Windsor MP Jack Rankin, who voted against the cuts, criticised the chancellor Rachel Reeves: “Labour had access to an open book of the country’s finances during the election campaign, so this is quite simply a political choice.
“The Chancellor cannot keep hiding behind her misleading ‘black hole’ fallacy and ignoring pensioners who will struggle to heat their homes in the coming winter months.”
The Labour government have assured that despite cuts, more support for pensioners is on the way. State pensions will be increased by £900 per year and the government has extended the household support fund available for councils.
It comes as the energy price cap is set to increase by 10 per cent per year in the next month, which Mr Rankin argued would be ‘devastating’ for pensioners.
Scrapping the winter fuel payments is expected to save around £1.3 billion for the 2024/25 financial year.
