Labour blasted over massive winter fuel payment oversight

CEN MP Patrick Spencer said:

“Labour’s cut to the winter fuel payment has left pensioners freezing this winter. It is a cruel cut, funding unnecessary Labour vanity projects like rail nationalisation and GB Energy.

“Labour rightly promised new measures to help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes. But if they are going to take money out of people’s pockets, the least they could do is to deliver on this promise, lowering energy bills and keeping homes warmer for longer. Yet ministers have failed to deliver meaningful policies, leaving not only freezing pensioners at risk, but our entire nation.

“This demonstrates a clear failure to plan for the long term - improving the energy efficiency of our homes will save money and reduce carbon emissions.”

CEN MP Neil Shastri-Hurst said:

“Cutting the winter fuel payment was a cruel and unnecessary attack on pensioners, leaving many struggling to heat their homes.

“With the energy price cap expected to rise once again, I fear this is only just the beginning of pensioners' pain.

“Given the Government has repeatedly claimed to care for the most vulnerable, it would not be unreasonable to have anticipated they would have a plan to mitigate the pain they are causing this winter. However, sadly, they are unsurprisingly unprepared.

“The Government promised to improve energy efficiency in households across the country. This would have, at least, helped the little money pensioners have left stretch a little further.

“Yet they have failed to deliver this support in time to help them through this winter. It is self-evident that the Government does not think about the implications of its decisions. ”

Sam Payne, of the Conservative Environment Network, said:

“Improving household energy efficiency is one of the easiest ways for the government to help people with their energy bills. It gets to the root of one of the main causes of high energy bills - that our homes are the leakiest in Western Europe.

“With the potential for households to save hundreds of pounds per year by installing insulation, the government really should set out plans to help more people invest in energy efficiency. It would be a quick win for the government to extend the VAT exemption on energy-saving materials beyond the current 2027 end date up to at least the end of the current parliament. They should also bring more clean heating technologies, such as heat batteries, within its scope, to widen consumer choice over how they go green.”

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