Published On: Mon, Sep 23rd, 2024
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Keir Starmer sent huge warning as union stages winter fuel protest at Labour conference | Politics | News


Sir Keir Starmer was warned the row over winter fuel payment cuts is not going away as protesters descended on Labour’s conference.

Dozens of Unite members staged a protest outside the conference centre in Liverpool as part of the union’s campaign for a U-turn on the controversial policy.

Joe Rollin, senior organiser at Unite, told the Express: “We’re here to protest the shocking decision to take winter fuel payments off our oldest people in society.

“We in Unite are saying they should tax the rich. A 1% tax on the richest in society would pay for this and wipe out the black hole so there’s no need for this cut whatsoever.”

Mr Rollin added that the Prime Minister “needs to really listen and backtrack”.

He said: “Everyone makes mistakes, we’re willing to accept that people make mistakes.

“But you can see the strength of feeling here today in the pouring rain and this campaign is only going to grow.”

Andy Green, chair of Unite’s executive council, branded the decision to restrict the winter fuel allowance to only the poorest pensioners as an “absolute outrage”.

He said: “We’ve got the most vulnerable people in our society, the people who have worked all of their lives to give to this country, to help build this country, and then when they retire to have that winter fuel allowance taken away it’s an absolute outrage, the most vulnerable people in our society.

“That’s worth something like 2% of their entire income if you look at the average pensioner.

“Our union is asking that the very richest in society pay 1% and yet Rachel Reeves is silent on that.

“Ordinary pensioners right now are very angry over the decision that’s been made to take away this fuel allowance.”

Mr Green warned that anger over the move will “absolutely not” go away.

He said: “This is not a one-off. Every single year we’re going to have pensioners turning off their heating, they’re going to be restricting the food they’re going to eat because they are worried about their fuel bills.

“That’s this winter, next winter, every single winter leading up to that next election. This is never going away, this has got to be sorted.

“There’s an opportunity now to reverse what they’ve done, they need to grasp the nettle and admit they’ve made an error and reinstate that allowance.”

It comes as Unite has criticised a decision to delay a debate on the winter fuel allowance from today to the final day of the conference on Wednesday, which is typically the quietest day.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves sparked an intense backlash in July when she announced plans to limit winter fuel payments to just those on pension credit.

She has blamed the controversial move on a £22 billion black hole in the public finances left by the Tories, which they have denied.



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