Scottish Labour's deputy leader is being pressed over Sir Keir Starmer government's decision to end universal winter fuel payments for all pensioners after she previously said she would fight to ensure the benefit would not be means tested.
Writing in March, 2018, Dame Jackie Baillie, commenting on the passage of the Social Security Bill in Holyrood, crediting the situation that the benefits wouldn't be restricted to her party's amendments.
The payments were introduced in 1997 by the last Labour government and have been available to everyone in the UK who has reached state pension age.
They are worth between £100 and £300 – tax-free – with the basic rate paid automatically to anyone claiming the state pension. The higher sums are available to those who get other benefits, such as pension credit.
However, last week Chancellor Rachel Reeves, pictured below, announced they would be mean tested, with only people on pension credit qualifying, stating it was one of the “difficult decisions” she had to make, as she accused the Tories of leaving £22bn in unfunded commitments.
(Image: PA)
Her decision will reduce the number of those eligible from 11.4 million to 1.5 million and reduce the money available to fund a replacement benefit due to be introduced in Scotland.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar last week backed the ending of the payments being universal and said a replacement benefit being introduced in Scotland should be "targeted" at those who need it most.
However, he said he was "sympathetic" to those who thought being in receipt of pension credit too narrow as a basis for receiving the benefit.
READ MORE: Winter Fuel Payment: Pensioners may not survive after cut
READ MORE: Sarwar backs ending universal winter fuel payment for pensioners
"I'm sympathetic to those who say pension credit is too tight a criteria for those who require support through the winter," he said.
"We are willing to work with the Scottish Government to help identify what a fairer criteria should be, and to implement a more targeted support base for Scotland."
SNP depute leader Keith Brown accused Labour of making "empty promises" during the election campaign not to make public spending cuts and said the decision would mean a £100 million cut to Scottish Government's funding.
“Labour’s empty promises of change are in tatters mere weeks after the election, and Jackie Baillie now has questions to answer over one of their most inexplicable decisions," he said.
READ MORE: Decision to end universal winter fuel payments ‘too narrow’, says Martin Lewis
“As a consequence of the Labour Chancellor’s cut to the winter fuel payment, millions of pensioners will now be faced with financial uncertainty and funding for the Scottish Government looks set to be reduced by £100 million.
“This is the impact of Labour austerity and is a decision that was opposed by the deputy leader of Scottish Labour in 2018.
“The question now is: will Jackie Baillie stand by her previous comments and Scottish pensioners, or will she join Anas Sarwar and back the UK Labour government’s decision to slash funding that keeps pensioners warm over winter?
“Pensioners across Scotland should not be forced to bear the brunt of yet more Westminster cuts, and I hope the deputy leader of Scottish Labour will join the SNP in opposing this cut.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Rachel Reeves has inherited the worst economic situation since the Second World War from the economically illiterate Tories who left a £22bn black hole in the country’s finances.
“It would be wrong for anyone to downplay the damage the Conservatives inflicted on our economy over the past 14 years.
“Winter fuel payments are becoming a devolved benefit, meaning Scotland will have the responsibility to decide whether to mirror the UK government’s plans to target support where it is most needed for the poorest pensioners in Scotland.
“Scottish Labour are willing and able to work with the Scottish Government, charities and other organisations to look at all the options available in Scotland and decide on the fairest course of action that is consistent with our commitment to economic stability and supporting pensioners.”
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, in March 2018, Ms Baillie said: "Thanks to Scottish Labour’s amendments to the Social Security Bill, winter fuel payments will not be means tested and disability benefits must be rights-based."
In a press release issued on the same day Ms Baillie, who has been MSP for Dumbarton since 1999, said "a successful Labour campaign" ensured that more than 40,000 pensioners in West Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute will not be means tested for winter fuel payments after the original legislation drafted by the Scottish Government had left the door open to means testing.
“The winter fuel payment has been worth millions to pensioners in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond since it was first introduced by a Labour Government and I will always fight to ensure the payment is protected," she said at the time.
“It is welcome that MSPs have agreed with Scottish Labour that winter fuel payments should not be means tested and disability benefits must be rights-based."
Meanwhile, it was reported in the Sunday Post that some 270,000 Scots pensioners already living in energy poverty will be plunged into further misery if tthey have their winter fuel payments scrapped.
New analysis by older people’s charity Age Scotland highlights the “astonishingly brutal” impact the cut would have on some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable.
It found 890,000 Scots receiving the state pension will no longer get the payment if the Scottish Government follows Labour’s decision to remove it from those ineligible for pension credit or another benefit in England and Wales.
The SNP government has so far failed to say what it will do but First Minister John Swinney admitted the move will lead to “tough decisions” in Scotland.
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