Reeves risks a grey backlash over winter fuel grab

A backlash has been steadily growing since Rachel Reeves announced the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance a fortnight ago. Currently, all 11.4 million pensioners receive an extra £200 to help heat their homes every winter, with those over 80 receiving a blanket £300 payment. Under Reeves’ plans, only those receiving pension credit or other means-tested benefits will be eligible for the additional support. It is aimed at saving £1.4 billion for the Treasury’s coffers as part of Labour’s attempts to fill the supposed £21.9 billion ‘black hole’ left by the Sunak government.

There is certainly a strong case for asking whether the payments should exist in their current form. The introduction of the winter fuel allowance by Gordon Brown in 1997 was before the triple lock, the era of low interest rates and the asset boom of the past twenty years. Back then, pensioner income was 30 per cent lower than that of workers; now