Labour members and trade unions have won a vote at the party's conference calling on the UK Government to reverse the cut to the winter fuel payment. 

The motion was narrowly carried by a show of hands.

While the vote was purely symbolic and will have no impact on government policy, it will be embarrassing for the leadership.

 

Unite's General Secretary, Sharon Graham, told delegates in the hall in Liverpool: “People simply do not understand – I do not understand – how our new Labour Government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched.”

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Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, told delegates that the government had moved to get more pensioners on to pension credit and had committed to the triple lock, which ensures the state pension rises every year by whichever is highest of inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%

This, she claimed, meant the Government had “done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years.”

Ms Kendall continued: “Focusing winter fuel payments on the poorest pensioners wasn’t a decision we wanted or expected to make, but when we promised we could be trusted with taxpayers’ money – we meant it.

“And when we were faced with a £22 billion black hole, which the Tories left this year, we had to act, because we know what happened when Liz Truss played fast and loose with the public finances.

"It was working people and pensioners on fixed incomes who paid the highest price."

 

The SNP's Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn called on Sir Keir Starmer to "finally listen to voters, admit he got it wrong, and U-turn on the Labour government's damaging cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment for millions of pensioners.

"The fact that the Prime Minister's own party members feel obliged to speak out, and demand he reverse these cuts, should tell him just how angry voters are at his cuts."

The change to the payment seems to have had an impact on the support for Sir Keir among Scottish voters. 

A new poll by Ipsos found that 48% of the Scottish public have an unfavourable opinion of Keir Starmer and 40% an unfavourable opinion of Anas Sarwar.

The Prime Minister's favourability among the Scottish public has fallen to a ‘net’ rating of -23, a -6.5 swing since March, and his lowest personal rating since October 2022.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader is embroiled in a new freebies row.

On Wednesday morning, Sir Keir said he had accepted £20,000 in donations for accommodation because his son needed somewhere to revise for his GCSEs while his family home was besieged by journalists.

The Prime Minister defended his decision to take gifts from Labour peer Lord Alli amid criticism of the arrangement, saying he was “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong” and the freebies did not “cost the taxpayer a penny”.

But Sir Keir signalled he could continue to accept hospitality from donors, saying that it was a matter of “judgment” for individual MPs whether they receive certain kinds of donations.

He said the transition to Downing Street had been “really difficult” for his two children, who were previously raised in North London.

“My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine.

“But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.

“Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.”

“It has been tough for the kids. I’m not pleading a special case but they’re 16 and 13,” he told LBC. “That’s a very important time.”

The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers overshadowed Labour conference's, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors.

Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government.