WESTMINSTER has voted to remove the Winter Fuel Payment from millions of pensioners.
A total of 348 Labour MPs voted to end the universal payment, making it means-tested for the first time.
Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said MPs had made the “dangerous decision to condemn some of the most vulnerable pensioners to live in cold damp homes this winter”.
The move was opposed by a rainbow coalition of opposition parties, with MPs from the LibDems, Conservatives, Greens, DUP, and the SNP all voting against the Labour government’s cut.
Just one Labour MP voted against the UK Government’s move: the left-wing former shadow minister Jon Trickett.
In a statement published on social media, he said: “In my view the government should be looking to raise revenues from the wealthiest in society, not working class pensioners. I could not in good conscience vote to make my constituents poorer.”
However, a tranche of 52 Labour MPs did not record a vote. These included big names on the left of the party such as Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis, and Neil Duncan-Jordan, the MP who had tabled an early day motion opposing the cut.
How did Scottish Labour MPs vote on the Winter Fuel Payment?
Scottish Labour returned 37 MPs in the 2024 General Election. All but two of them voted with the UK Government to cut the Winter Fuel Payment.
The two who did not support the move also did not oppose it, instead recording no vote.
They were Kenneth Stevenson, the MP for Airdrie and Shotts, and Euan Stainbank, the MP for Falkirk.
It is unclear if they were given permission to miss the vote. Seven government ministers including Nick Thomas-Symonds also recorded no vote. Reports said that only around a dozen of the abstaining Labour MPs did so without prior consent of the leadership.
Scottish Labour MPs including Ian Murray, Michael Shanks, Pamela Nash, and Douglas Alexander all fell into line.
How did the suspended seven Labour MPs vote on the Winter Fuel Payment?
After a vote on scrapping the two-child benefit cap in July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended seven Labour MPs from his party. These were: Zarah Sultana, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Richard Burgon, and John McDonnell.
On Tuesday, all but two of those suspended MPs voted against cutting the Winter Fuel Payment. Hussain and Long-Bailey recorded no vote.
How did SNP MPs vote on the Winter Fuel Payment?
All nine of the SNP’s MPs at Westminster voted against the cut to the Winter Fuel Payment.
The benefit was due to be devolved to Holyrood later this year. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s cut meant the Scottish Budget was around £140-£160 million smaller than the Scottish Government had been expecting.
As such, the Scottish Government also cut the Winter Fuel Payment, saying it had been left with “no choice”.
