1 week Ago By Nick Jackson
That was the verdict of the people we spoke to on the streets when they were asked to assess Labour’s first two months in government. There were other gripes – like the expected tax rises to deal with what Labour says was a hidden £22bn hole in the public finances they claim was left by Rishi Sunak’s Government , and the failure of the criminal justice system to rehabilitate offenders leaving jail. Just weeks after sweeping to power in a landslide victory in the general election, Labour is finding the reality of holding power is not such a bed of roses.
A backlash began after chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government would make the “difficult decision” to remove the winter fuel allowance from those elderly people who are not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits. It is a tax-free annual payment to help pensioners pay their winter heating bills, currently totalling £200 per eligible household where the oldest person is under 80, and £300 for households containing a person aged 80 or over. It was first introduced in winter 1997 under Tony Blair’s Labour government.
Back then it was £20 (or £50 for those in receipt of means-tested benefits), but has steadily increased over the years. In the years since, pensioners’ incomes have been protected by the triple lock guarantee introduced by David Cameron’s government. Nonetheless, experts have called the announcement a blow to struggling pensioners, warning it could leave vulnerable older people in dire straits financially.
On the streets of Wigan , 69-year-old former support worker Sue Rimmer agrees, saying: “It seems the first thing Labour has done is to come in and hit pensioners. It’s very annoying and very unfair. “I’m okay, but there are others who are not, who aren’t getting pension credit.
” Joyce Smith, 83, said: “I don’t like what they’ve done about the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance. I’ve got a friend who’s really struggling. She won’t be able to afford to put her heating on.
“It’s okay for those people who are living in Spain or those who don’t need it. This not what a Labour government should be doing.” Lifelong Labour voter and retired electrician Arthur Johnson, 82, summed up the government’s performance in the first two months in one word: “rubbish”.
“They’ve come in and hit the pensioners again. I’ve voted Labour all my life and they go and do this. I’m one of the people who will lose the allowance.
It’s a disgrace – that’s all I want to say.” Mental health nurse Pascal Nsemba said: “They’ve made so many promises, which they don’t seem to follow up on. It seems like they are thinking about increasing taxes and cutting spending, and of course they’ve cut the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, which is not what I voted for.
I’ve always voted Labour, but the recent riots show just how damaged our country is.” Meanwhile, the criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform, according to one man who has direct experience of it – 29-year-old former Walton jail inmate Callum Maxwell. He said: “I think what the Government is doing is dire.
I’ve been in jail (Walton) for six weeks and I’ve come out, and now I’m homeless. “I’m sleeping in doorways in the town and getting attacked regularly. There’s no support for people being kicked out of jail.
I’ve got mental health issues and I was better off in jail.” Although there is anger and disillusionment over what the new Government is now doing, as evidenced before the election, there is still an element of apathy and “it doesn’t matter what I say” dejection among the general public. Alison Dawson said: “I don’t think it makes a difference what we think.
Because of this, I didn’t vote, but in the past I’ve voted Labour and Conservative. “I’m someone who is for the people and helping people who are struggling out. I’m also in favour of making sure animals and the planet are looked after.
But what they’ve done with the winter fuel allowance is unfair, I think.” Former military man Stu Banmber, 51, said: “As far as I am concerned it doesn’t matter whether it’s Labour or Conservative, or whatever their name is, who are in power. They are selected, not elected.
“The prime minister is not going to change anything because he’s got no choice. He’s following an agenda. “People get put on a pedestal and too many people buy into whatever they are saying.
They don’t do what they say they are going to do. So how can we trust them? I didn’t vote because I didn’t see the point.” Sir Keir Starmer , Ms Reeves and leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell have all defended the decision to means-test the winter fuel payment.
As far back as 2019, a Commons briefing paper stated: “Some have argued that the winter fuel payment and other ‘universal benefits’ for older people can no longer be justified, in light of the deficit and benefit cuts facing non-retired households.” At the same time, average housing costs among pensioners are “generally low” according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) paper from this year, with 74 per cent of pensioner households in 2022/23 owning their own home without a mortgage. The same IFS paper found that average incomes for pensioners – which are now very similar to average incomes below state pension age – grew by 12 per cent from 2011/2012 to 2022/23, driven by higher state and private pension incomes.
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