Labour MP warns of excess deaths due to winter fuel cuts
Concerned pensioners have said they will have to choose between heating and food to pay their bills after the coronavirus crisis. Rachel Reeves' cruel cut to winter fuel surcharge.
After the launch of this newspaper Winter Fuel Payments Save CrusadeA number of older people have shared heartbreaking personal stories about the impact the loss of a vital lifeline will have on them later this year.
Readers described the agonising choice they face this Christmas – keep warm or put food on the table – as millions are forced to save up to £300 to pay for government changes.
Lynne, 70, from Cumbria, is annoyed, explaining that her and her partner are having to work extra hours on their £13,000 pension despite their poor health, after Mrs Reeves decided to stop winter fuel payments.
She explained, “My husband has bladder cancer and I have COPD and scoliosis.”
Readers have expressed their fears for the coming winter (Image: Rachel Reeves X)
She added: “We can’t afford to stop working, so the heating allowance – or lack thereof – would mean we would both have to be admitted to hospital if we got too cold or too hungry.
“The only thing we can hope for is that we die quickly this winter. I hope Rachel Reeves is proud of herself.”
Her anger was matched by that of fellow retiree Peter Sanford, who warned: “Many retirees will die of hypothermia this winter”.
Ray Henderson, 71, said many retirees “just need to get a new blanket, smile and get on with it”.
He added: “I really hope we don't have a bad winter, otherwise a lot of people will become seriously ill, or worse, die, because of what Labour has done.
“What they have done is upset the majority of the people who put them in power – the older generation – and we will not forget that!”
Another pensioner was equally outraged that the once-vaunted 'People's Party' had drastically cut winter fuel payments for pensioners.
They said: “Pensioners face widespread suffering – and freezing to death – this winter as support for energy bills is cut by Sir Keir Starmer“political mafia”.
Shadow minister Caroline Johnson has warned of excess winter deaths (Image: Caroline Johnson)
Pauline Grundy warned the Chancellor: “I hope she has enough money in the bank to pay for all the extra medical care that the elderly suffering from hypothermia will need.”
Lord Sikka, a member of the party himself, warned of a possible high number of deaths in the winter as a result of Labour's callous decision. He wanted to know whether ministers had made estimates of the number of pensioners who could die.
Lord Sikka, one of the few Labour politicians to openly rebel against the policy, told parliament: “Around two million pensioners are falling into the income tax net because of frozen tax thresholds.
“Now we are taking another £300 from the same people, through a measure that was not in our manifesto, and I have had many messages saying that pensioners are very, very, very concerned about this.”
He added: “Last year £5,000 pensioners died from the cold and because they couldn't afford heating. Has the Minister made any estimates of how many more will die because £300 is being taken from them?”
Minister Lord Livermore, a former adviser to Gordon Brown, declined to say whether the Treasury had made such an assessment.
He reiterated the government's assertion that the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of people “is not an easy decision and I understand why there is disappointment, but it is the right decision in the circumstances”.
The Conservative Party also warned of the potentially deadly consequences of Rachel Reeves' announcement.
Ms Reeves has been warned of unintended consequences of the policy (Image: Rachel Reeves X)
Yesterday [FRI]Shadow Health Minister Dr Caroline Johnson quoted the Chief Medical Officer's 2023 annual report, which said: “Cold homes and fuel poverty are directly linked to excess winter deaths”.
“Dr Caroline told the Express: “Excess winter deaths are linked to cold homes.”
“If the elderly cannot afford to heat their homes, they are at greater risk of becoming ill.
“The Labour government has chosen to winter fuel payment for millions of vulnerable pensioners.
“They need to urgently reconsider this.”
Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition has warned that NHS staff on the frontline “know only too well the horrors that result from vulnerable groups living in cold, damp homes”.
“Without this financial support we will see more older people living in energy poverty and – as a result – potentially relying on the NHS.”
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimates that about 10% of excess winter deaths each year are directly attributable to fuel poverty and 21.5% to cold homes.
Outrage over Ms Reeves' changes to winter fuel payments grew further yesterday, with an Express Online poll of 14,000 readers finding that 97% want the Chancellor to reverse the policy.
Dozens of other MPs have backed the Express's crusade, including Conservative leader Alicia Kearns, who expressed concern about pensioners “getting sick in cold, damp homes”.
She compared this to Labour's recent public sector pay deals, which make up a large part of the £22bn black hole that Ms Reeves says she needs to fill.
The shadow foreign secretary warned: “With energy bills rising by around £155 over Christmas, pensioners are being left out in the cold,
damp homes, while Labour prioritises raising the average train driver's salary to just under £70,000 for a four-day week”.
“Is it a coincidence that ASLEF, the rail union, made the largest union donation to Labour during the election?
“There is no denying that spending pressures lead to choices, but it is cynical theatricality to pretend that the government finances are a mystery when the IFS and Labour both declared during the election that the books are open to all.
“I will do everything I can to fight this shameful decision. All affected pensioners must check whether they are entitled to pension credits, because too many people who are entitled to them do not.”
The Express’ new campaign, launched on Wednesday, is led by former Jobs and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who was the driving force behind calls for Rachel Reeves to stop the plundering of millions of pensioners.
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