Britain’s Labour Party is pushing to cut heating subsidies for pensioners, but there is resistance to austerity measures.
Increasingly unpopular: Keir Starmer saving money from poor pensioners Photo: Kim Min-a/Reuters
Munich Taz | Keir Starmer’s Labour government, just two months into power, suffered its first major internal party revolt late on Wednesday when it voted to scrap the so-called “winter fuel allowance”, a state heating subsidy worth between €237 and €356 a year for pensioners.
The £11.4m subsidy, which has been paid to all pensioners since 1997, was almost scrapped after Labour won the election by 348 to 228 on Wednesday. Only 1.5 million of Britain’s poorest pensioners now receive the subsidy if they were on welfare.
Is it the Tories’ fault?
A total of 53 Labour MPs, along with Green, Liberal Democrat, Conservative, SNP and UK Reform MPs, voted against Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to plug a £22 billion hole (out of the £26.1 billion the Conservatives were thought to have left behind).
The Labour government is now saving £1.2 billion as the grant is no longer available, and many charities, including the Rowntree Foundation, have warned that the funding shortfall will leave many older people in Britain literally stranded.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendal told the House of Commons that the decision was not what was originally intended. Instead, the Conservatives were responsible for wasting the nation’s resources, Kenda said, describing the current bill as part of responsible use of taxpayers’ money.
Of the 53 Labour MPs who did not vote with their party, 40 abstained for political reasons, excluding those who were exempted from voting because of official duties. Jeremy Corbyn’s Communities Secretary even voted against it. Trickett said it was a life or death decision for him. The fact that Trickett was the only one to vote against Labour and everyone else abstained was Starmer’s only success.
Independents and Corbyn supporters oppose Starmer
Most of the Labour abstentions came from the party’s left, many of whom were former shadow ministers under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, including Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis, a former shadow chancellor under Corbyn.
In addition to the Labour MPs, 10 independents voted against Labour, including a new alliance of five led by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Independent groupIt consists of individual representatives elected to parliament, primarily as pro-Palestinian representatives.
Similarly, five of the seven Labour MPs suspended in July, who were immediately expelled from Parliament after the Starmer government scrapped legislation limiting child welfare restrictions to a maximum of two per household, also abstained.
They include two other members of Corbyn’s shadow ministry, John McDonnell and Richard Burgen, as well as Zarah Sultana, Apsana Begum and Ian Byrne. The other two suspended Labour MPs, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Imran Hussain, abstained from voting. All seven are in the mix. Socialist Campaign Group The socialist faction of the Labour Party.
Future resistance is inevitable
All of these politicians could cause more and more problems for the Labour leadership in the future, as the removal of the heating subsidy is only the beginning of a series of serious measures that have not yet been mentioned. The new budget, due to be published on October 30, is intended to cover the unexpected deficit and ensure economic stability.
But criticism on Tuesday wasn’t just coming from the left, with numerous conservative lawmakers on the right, including Rep. Richard Tice, british reform The party criticised Labour for granting a 15 per cent pay rise to striking train drivers, who were previously paid between €71,000 and €83,000, while pensioners with far fewer resources were made redundant.
Some see this bill as politically risky, given that people of retirement age are the most reliable voters. It remains to be seen how the Starmer government will handle all this. According to a YouGov poll on September 3, Starmer’s popularity has fallen from 44% to 35% since the election.
