Protests will take place in Leeds on Thursday (14 November) in opposition to the government’s cuts to winter fuel payments.
Organised by the Unite trade union and the Yorkshire and Humber Pensioners’ Convention (YHPC), protests will be taking place near the constituency of chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The protests are the latest in a series of actions by Unite and pensioners’ groups to apply pressure to the government and highlight the harm being done by cuts to pensioners’ incomes.
The protests come as polling shows that in Reeves’ own constituency of Leeds West and Pudsey just a third of voters support the introduction of means testing. Meanwhile, 68 per cent of voters think it is unfair that pensioners on incomes as low as £220 a week will be refused winter fuel payments. Nearly three quarter (72 per cent) are worried about themselves or a family member affording their heating bills this winter.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “The campaign opposing the pickpocketing of pensioners is now coming to the chancellor’s own back yard. Her own constituents don’t support the policy and neither does the rest of the country.
“The government needs to rapidly rethink this tin-eared cut. It is simply wrong that winter fuel payments have been slashed while the mega wealthy remain untouched.”
Unite has also begun legal action by instigating a judicial review of the government’s policy. This is due to the belief the government has acted unlawfully. They claim its actions will have a terrible effect on millions of older people in society and will likely cause an increase in cold related deaths.
Yorkshire & Humber Pensioners Convention secretary Fran Postlethwaite said: “Labour ending the universal winter fuel payment will take away a lifeline for millions of pensioners, at a time when energy bills are increasing.
“Around one million pensioners are likely to fall through the cracks, eligible for pension credit and the winter fuel payment but not claiming it. Benefits like this should be universal. It’s not too late for Labour to restore this benefit to stop many pensioners from freezing this year.”
