Grantham and Bourne MP: ‘Loss of winter fuel payment affected more than 20,000 people in my constituency alone’

In July last year, just after the General Election, the Chancellor announced that winter fuel payments would be scrapped for all pensioners, except those in receipt of pension credit or certain other means-tested benefits, writes Grantham and Bourne MP Gareth Davies.

To qualify for pension credit, an individual over the state pension age must satisfy certain savings and income requirements. The scheme then works to effectively top up the income of a pensioner as a way of tackling pensioner poverty.

Since 2010, pensioner poverty has fallen by 200,000. It was one of the proudest achievements of the last Government. We can never allow for a return to a situation where so many pensioners are unable to live in dignity in their old age after contributing to our economy and our communities for their working lives.

This is why I have been working hard alongside my Conservative colleagues in Parliament to push for the Government to reverse their cut and change course. Back in September, I wrote in this very column about why I would vote against the Government’s cut.

Therefore, like pensioners throughout our area, I was relieved to hear just last week that our pressure had worked and the Government recognised that their decision had gone too far and had not struck the right balance.

Over 20,000 pensioners in Grantham, Bourne and nearby villages alone lost their winter fuel payment last winter. Those residents yet again faced another year without this Government support, a worry that many pensioners have shared with me.

The Government has gone back on their decision to albeit axe these payments. Instead, we now know that pensioners who have an income of less than £35,000 will receive their winter fuel payment this winter automatically, meaning most pensioners will have their support restored.

From the significant amount of correspondence I have received on this issue, I know that this decision will be welcomed by many across our community, whether they’re a pensioner themselves or someone with concerns on behalf of a loved one.

This U-turn by the Government was confirmed at the Spending Review on Wednesday, an event in which the Chancellor sets out allocations to Government departments for years ahead. With the Chancellor under pressure to appease Labour MPs, her fiddling of the fiscal rules to raise spending is going to mean higher borrowing and likely even more tax rises coming in the Autumn. To govern is to choose, but this again is the wrong choice.

As many locally understand, the only way our country can ensure we have the effective public services we all want, such as in health, education or defence, is to have a growing economy in which work is incentivised, working families are supported, and businesses and entrepreneurs are championed.

By going after family-owned firms and farms, hiking up their jobs tax, and strangling businesses in red tape, the choices this Government is making move us in the wrong direction. They should realise their mistakes, as with winter fuel payments, and change course.