Sir Keir Starmer faced shouts of “shame” in the House of Commons as he defended moves to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak asked why the Prime Minister had decided to boost the pay of train drivers earning £65,000 a year while a pensioner living on £13,000 annually would lose their winter fuel payment.
Sir Keir said “no prime minister wants to do what we have to do” as he argued the “tough decision” was required to “stabilise our economy”.
Tory MPs heckled Sir Keir with shouts of “shame” throughout his answers to the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions.
People in England and Wales not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits will lose out under the policy, which MPs are expected to vote on next week.
It is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving around £1.4 billion this year.
Mr Sunak told PMQs: “Government is about making choices, and the new Prime Minister has made a choice.
“(Sir Keir) has chosen to take the winter fuel allowance away from low-income pensioners and give that money to certain unionised workforces in inflation-busting pay rises.
“So can I just ask the Prime Minister, why did he choose train drivers over Britain’s vulnerable pensioners?”
Sir Keir replied: “This Government was elected to clear up the mess left by the party opposite, to bring about the change that the country desperately needs.
“Our first job was to audit the books, and what we found was a £22 billion black hole.”
He added: “So we’ve had to take tough decisions to stabilise the economy and repair the damage, including targeting winter fuel payments whilst protecting pensioners – 800,000 pensioners are not taking up pension credit.
“We intend to turn that around.
“We’re going to align housing benefit and pension credit, something the previous government deferred year after year after year.”
Sir Keir also pointed to the Government’s commitment to the triple lock, which guarantees the state pension will rise by inflation, average wage growth or 2.5%.
Mr Sunak defended his record in government before adding that the Prime Minister has to “start taking responsibility for his own decisions”.
He said: “If, as he says, the public finances are a priority, it was his decision and his decision alone to award a train driver on £65,000 a pay rise of almost £10,000, and it was also his decision that a pensioner living on just £13,000 will have their winter fuel allowance removed.
“So can the Prime Minister explain to Britain’s low-income pensioners why he has taken money away from them whilst at the same time given more money to highly paid train drivers?”
Sir Keir said Labour has a “massive mandate to change the country”, adding to Mr Sunak: “If he carries on pretending everything is fine for ordinary people across the country, they’re going to be there (on the Opposition benches) for a very, very long time.”
He defended the Government’s pay offers to end strike action as he said: “You cannot fix the economy if the trains don’t work and you can’t fix the economy if the NHS isn’t working.”
Sir Keir went on to describe shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch as the “favourite” in the Tory leadership race and said the former cabinet minister had previously called for a “more sophisticated mechanism for means testing” winter fuel payments.
Mr Sunak again defended his record in government before saying: “Under the Conservative government, a low-income pensioner with just £13,000 received not only the winter fuel payment, but also hundreds of pounds of additional cost-of-living support, both of which he has now scrapped.
“Age UK have said cutting the winter fuel allowance is the wrong policy and, only this morning, we have learned that the vast majority of the poorest pensioners, pensioners in poverty, are going to see that vital support removed.
“Can he tell the House, very specifically to the pensioners that are watching, how much less support a pensioner on £13,000 will receive this winter?”
The Prime Minister replied: “No prime minister wants to do what we have to do in relation to the winter fuel allowance, but we have to take the tough decision to stabilise our economy, to ensure that we can grow it for the future.
“And as I’ve said, we are working hard on pension credit.”
