OVER 200 people protested outside Parliament yesterday to demand the reversal of the Starmer Labour government’s scrapping of the Winter Fuel Allowance for 10 million pensioners.
This measure was announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves just after the election.
The rally was organised by Unite after the union forced through a vote at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool last month, which defeated the Starmer leadership and voted to reverse the attack.
At yesterday’s rally, pensioner Georgie Stagg from Lewisham said: ‘We’re here to protect our winter fuel allowance. What the government is saying is a false economy saving £1.6 billion.
‘In order to qualify for Winter Fuel Allowance in future there is a questionnaire with 36 questions to answer. The margins are so small that a lot of people will lose their allowance and people will be so daunted by the 36 questions that they will give up and will not get the benefit they are entitled to.
‘Also taking away the allowance will make more people ill, increasing the strain on the NHS. There’s hundreds of millions going to the military while the NHS is suffering creeping privatisation.’
Oliver Chan came with his placard saying: ‘Ageism sucks!’ He told News Line: ‘Everybody should be able to age well.’
Sharon Graham, Unite union General Secretary, told the rally: ‘Shame on Labour for pushing 1.6 million people below the poverty line, and then not accepting that this decision was wrong and reversing it.
‘What a disgrace! I make no apology for calling Labour to account. MPs are accountable to the people who elected them. I call on them to be Labour and show whose side they are on.’
Sally Tsoukaris, General Secretary of the Civil Service Pensioners Alliance, said: ‘We are justifiably dismayed by the Chancellor’s announcement. Many pensioners exist just above the limit for pension credit.
‘The average civil service pensioner gets an income of £10,200 per annum, and women on average get far, far less, and these are subject to tax deductions.’
John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, said: ‘When the Winter Fuel Allowance was first introduced, excess deaths in winter dropped by half. It was a universal benefit, which I agree with.
‘Once you break the principle of universality, where do you go next? We weren’t elected to impoverish our own constituents. We can turn this round. We have a couple of weeks before the budget and I’m convinced we can turn it round.’