Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland MPs vote against winter fuel payments cut

An attempt to block a cut to payments to pensioners for heating their homes this winter was defeated by 348 to 228 votes in Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions
Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)

Ten of the eleven MPs representing Northern Ireland voted against the winter fuel payments cut in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

An attempt to block a cut to payments to pensioners for heating their homes this winter was defeated by 348 to 228 votes in Parliament.

All of the political parties in the north represented in Westminster voted for the Conservative proposal which was ultimately defeated.

The DUP’s Gavin Robinson, Jim Shannon, Sammy Wilson, Gregory Campbell and Carla Lockhart all backed their party’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons’ stance that the cut “will have serious consequences” for the health and wellbeing of elderly people here.

The SDLP’s Claire Hanna and Colum Eastwood also voted against the cut, as did Sorcha Eastwood of Alliance, Robin Swann of the UUP and the TUV’s Jim Allister.

Sinn Féin’s seven MPs do not take their seats due to the party’s abstentionist policy, while Independent MP for North Down, Alex Easton’s vote was not recorded.