A MINISTER reportedly “misspoke” when she said the Government was looking at ways to ease the pressure of energy bills.
Policing Minister Diana Johnson suffered a bruising media round on Monday morning as she tried to defend the Government’s plans to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for all but the poorest pensioners.
But she was said to have got her facts wrong when she claimed the Government was looking at a “social tariff” to ease the burden on the “poorest members of our society”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Johnson said: “We generally want to get energy bills down. We know over the past few years what trouble that’s caused to household budgets and the cost of living crisis, so there is a lot of work going on around that social tariff for the poorest members of our society.”
But the BBC later reported that Government sources had denied there were plans for a social tariff, which reduces bills for poorer people.
'Within about half an hour I was told by government sources that Diana Johnson misspoke' Chief political correspondent @hzeffman spoke to #BBCBreakfast about this morning's interview with a Home Office minister on plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance for millions of… pic.twitter.com/QWl2LIt2Q0
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) September 9, 2024
Johnson was also told to “stop” repeating Labour’s mantra that the Government had to take “difficult decisions” in a clash with Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid.
The minister repeatedly blamed the Tories for the decision and said she would “reluctantly” vote to scrap the universal Winter Fuel Payment.
Reid said: “On behalf of our viewers, can you stop saying it's a difficult decision.
“You've made this particular choice, you didn't find it difficult because you made it."
Asked whether she would back the measure, Johnson said: “I will reluctantly have to vote for it, yes."
She added: “I recognise that we are making some really difficult decisions because of the inheritance of the last 14 years."
Reid (below) hit back: "Can you stop saying it's a difficult decision.”
Johnson said that Labour were being forced to address a £22 billion “black hole” left by the Tories in the public finances, adding: “The Prime Minister has said, very clearly, we are going to have to make some very difficult decisions to get the economy back on its feet. This is the first one and it's hard and not what I want to do.
"But we are going to have to do this if we are serious about what the prime minister has said about being a responsible government and being a government that takes those hard decisions early on."
The plans, which are expected to strip the payment of as much as £300 from around 10 million pensioners in a bid to save £1.4bn per year, have infuriated Labour’s union backers.
Sharon Graham (below), the general secretary of Unite, said the Government must not “pick the pockets of pensioners” and has proposed a wealth tax on the “richest 1% in society”.
She told Sky News: “We're calling for the government to think again. This issue isn't going to go away. We're coming up to winter. People are going to be freezing cold.
"You're going to have older people not wanting to put on their heat.”
Paul Nowak, head of the Trades Union Congress, which is not affiliated with Labour, called for a “rethink” and told the BBC: “I think it's right the Chancellor should rethink those plans and think about support put in place for pensioners.
"I hope in the Budget the Chancellor will set out support available for pensioners who aren’t on pension or tax credit, but who are not well off by any means, to make sure that they are not frightened to turn on the heating this winter."
