Labour Government refuses to say if people will die because of Winter Fuel Payment cut

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Labour Government has refused to say if people will die because of the Winter Fuel Payment cut.MPs voted to make the benefit means-tested in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.But Keir Starmer refused to commit to publishing an impact assessment during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.Afterwards his spokesperson would not say whether the government had judged the effect of the policy before introducing it.Labour had previously brushed off its own 2017 analysis which said thousands could die when the Tories were considering a similar cut.Around 900,000 Scots are set to miss out on the payment from November.

Most of those who are still eligible for the payment receive Pension Credit.The proposals, designed to save £1.5bn, have been criticised as older people on modest incomes will lose out at a time of rising energy costs.Tory leader Rishi Sunak asked Starmer during PMQs: "We know why he’s hiding the impact assessment.

The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So, are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?”Starmer replied: “We’re taking this decision to stabilise the economy, that means we can commit to the triple lock, by committing to the triple lock we can make sure that payments of state pension are higher, and therefore there’s more money in the pocket of pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action that we need to take.“But (Sunak) goes around pretending that everything’s fine.

That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”Afterwards Downing Street declined to comment on whether any assessment existed.A spokeswoman refused to say whether the government knew people