Sir Keir Starmer has defended cutting the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners despite representations from Anas Sarwar and his Scottish MPs. 

The Prime Minister said he needed to “stabilise the economy.”

He accused the SNP of walking away from tough decisions.

Sir Keir was speaking to Scottish journalists after the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn urged Labour's 37 Scottish MPs to vote against the measures in the Commons on Tuesday night. 

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There is a growing backlash from MPs, unions and charities over the government’s decision to move from a universal payment for all pensioners to only sending the payout to those receiving pension credit or certain other benefits. 

The change - which will save around £1.5 billion - was announced in July by Chancellor Rachel Reeves as part of her plan to tackle a £22nb black hole in the public finances. 

The policy is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment of up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million.

In Scotland, up to 900,000 will lose out. 

A number of MPs are expected to rebel on Tuesday when a Tory motion to annul the government’s change to the regulations comes to the Commons. 

However, there is little chance of the Prime Minister being defeated. 

Asked if he had taken into consideration the colder weather in Scotland and if his colleagues north of the border had spoken to him, he said:

“Yes of course. We have got to stabilise the economy."

He added: “If you ask any pensioner what are the things that have made life so difficult in recent years they will say to you, ‘my energy bills went through the roof’.

“I’ve had pensioners across the UK, including in Scotland, telling me their energy bills were going through the roof and it was really, really difficult for them.

“They told me the cost of living crisis was so bad that they were in the supermarkets picking out items and then putting them back down again because they could not afford them. 

“But when inflation got out of control it was pensioners who paid the price. So we had to secure the economy for pensioners and we had to recognise that we can’t secure and fix the economy if we can’t get our transport systems working, if we don’t have our health systems working.  “

"So, look, it’s really tough. 

“Of course it is.“

The Prime Minister said his government’s commitment to the triple lock - which sees pensions go up each year by either 2.5%, inflation or average earnings, whichever is the highest figure - would mean the state pension “will increase in a way that outstrips the winter fuel payment.”

Speaking to Scottish journalists in Downing Street last night, Sir Keir said: “Let me first recognise this a really tough decision that we’ve had to make.”

He added: “We were elected into government on the basis of economic stability, that we would secure the foundations and that is why Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, in her first weeks did an audit of the books. 

“What we discovered was there was £22bn missing.

“Now we knew the economy was in bad shape.

“We had a choice then. We could pretend it didn’t exist. We could walk past it. We could put it into the long grass. 

“All of that was done by the last government and is still being done in its equivalent form, by the SNP, in my view. 

“Or we could be honest about it, say that requires us to make tough decisions.

“Nobody by the way suggests that the untargeted approach we’ve got at the moment is a good system.”

In a letter to Scottish Labour’s MP and party leader Anas Sarwar, Stephen Flynn said Labour did not need to "wield the axe and make these cuts."

He added: “It is a political choice, driven by your obsession with copying Tory fiscal rules. Up to 87% of pensioners in Scotland will lose out under Labour government plans, including those on a low and modest income who are just above the pension credit threshold of £11,343 a year."