Rachel Reeves is right to cut the ‘winter fuel’ bung

A millionaire I know has a tradition every year: he buys a bottle of vintage wine with his Winter Fuel Payment and invites friends to drink it. His point is that it’s ludicrous that people like him are given handouts by the government – and today, finally, Rachel Reeves is doing something about it by cutting it for those not on benefits, saving the taxpayer some £1.5 billion a year.

Gordon Brown brought in this payment when it was taken for granted that pensioners were significantly poorer than people of working age. Pensions were linked to inflation – there was no triple lock.  Over the past 25 years pensioners have become steadily healthier and wealthier: they work (much) more. QE then fuelled an asset boom whereby property prices surged to the extent where 27 per cent of pensioners became millionaires (or lived in households headed by a millionaire).