The Unite union has accused Labour conference organisers of seeking to silence them by scheduling a vote that could condemn cuts to winter fuel payments for the very end of the gathering.
Unite and the Communication Workers Union, which co-sponsored the motion calling for ministers to reverse the removal of the allowance from all but the poorest pensioners, had hoped it would take place on Monday, the busiest day of the event in Liverpool.
But it has been shifted to the very end, on Wednesday morning, after the final ministerial speeches and when many delegates will have left. Unite called this “the graveyard slot”.
The chair of the conference arrangements committee (CAC), Lynne Morris, faced boos and heckles from some delegates after she announced the timing for the debate and vote, which could well be passed given the union backing.
“This is a really busy conference and we are trying to accommodate as much as we can, and I’m going to take this back straight to CAC and I’ll come back to you with an answer asap,” she said, calling on the hecklers to “show a little bit of respect for each other”.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: “Right now it is fair to say that the Labour leaders have tried to silence the voice of pensioners, workers and communities at party conference in this blatant manoeuvre to block debate on winter fuel cuts and the departure towards austerity mark two. When this becomes widely known there will be real anger among everyday people. Real anger.”
The CWU said it was concerned the debate could be squeezed out altogether.
While the leadership of Unite in particular has often been critical of Keir Starmer, the decision announced in July to remove the annual payment of either £200 or £300, depending on age, from all pensioners apart from those who receive income-based benefits has caused wider concern in the government and the party.
Speaking to the BBC before her main conference speech on Monday, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said such cuts were “not changes that I expected to make or wanted to make, but when faced with a situation when there’s a £22bn black hole, not some year in the future but this year, in the public finances, it requires difficult decisions”.
While the vote would be non-binding, a major show of dissent from unions and delegates could make for a downbeat ending to Labour’s first conference in government for 15 years.
Unite has proposed a motion to condemn the cut that is likely to end in a revised compromise motion being agreed with other trade unions, similar to a motion that passed at the TUC conference. The initial wording of the motion calls on the government to make a U-turn in the October budget by “reversing all cuts to the winter fuel allowance”.
The backing of major unions would be likely to give the motion enough support to pass the conference floor, despite the fact the vast majority of Labour member delegates at the conference, without a significant leftwing bloc, are supportive of Starmer’s leadership.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Wheel of Liverpool, which lies just outside of the main conference zone, to urge the chancellor to reverse her decision.
The union members stood in the pouring rain, with some holding placards that said: “Warm–Mongering – Not War-Mongering!”
“This cut isn’t set in stone, but why is a Labour government considering this move in the first place?” one said, as a crowd of protesters chanted: “Winter fuel cuts go away, tax the rich and make them pay.”
Unite member Josh added: “We’ve organised this protest as we’ve got 100,000 retired members and the vast majority of them are going to be losing their winter fuel payment. There’s more than enough money in society to pay for the winter fuel payments; it needs to be taxed because it’s currently held in the hands of very few people.
“The 50 richest families in Britain are worth a combined £500bn, which is the same as half of the UK population. We’re not a poor society but the state needs to tax that wealth and redistribute it.”
