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Chancellor Sir Keir Starmer defended the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners ahead of Tuesday’s vote, saying his government was “inevitably becoming unpopular”.
The British prime minister insisted the measures were necessary to shore up public finances, but refused to say whether he would strip Labour rebels of their leadership positions.
There is growing resentment among Labour MPs after senior party figures joined criticism over proposed scrapping winter fuel allowances for all but the poorest pensioners – £200 or £300 depending on individual circumstances – which government officials estimate could save the Treasury £1.5bn.
Ten Labour MPs have signed a non-binding early motion to delay the measures, saying they have not undergone a proper impact assessment.
Newcomers are usually very compliant as they try to impress their party leaders, but the motion was put forward by recently elected Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan, who won his Pool seat by just 18 votes, and was also signed by two other new Labour MPs in a show of strong feelings on the issue.
On Saturday, another Labour MP became the latest to announce that she would not side with the government, with Rosie Duffield saying she “absolutely” could not support the move.
Despite growing calls for a review of the policy, Mr Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have remained adamant.
“We are going to be unpopular and the tough decisions are tough decisions,” Starmer told BBC One’s programme. Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show.
Health Minister Wes Streeting also insisted on Sunday the measures were essential to “break the bank”, but expressed regret and admitted he was “not at all happy” with them.
He acknowledged ministers were enduring “political pain” over the plans but hoped pensioners angered by the move would recognise “this is not a government that will avoid difficult decisions or pretend to spend money it doesn’t have”.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme, Mr Streeting warned that other generations would also be affected by the “tough choices” that will be revealed in the Budget and Spending Review on October 30. “It’s not just pensioners that will be affected,” he said.
In July, Starmer took a hard line against rebels within his party who voted against an amendment to remove the cap on second-child benefits, expelling seven Labour MPs from the party for six months.
But the Prime Minister refused to say on Sunday whether potential rebels would face the same fate and be stripped of their leadership positions if they rebelled or abstained on Tuesday, insisting it was a “matter for the leadership”.
Mr Starmer said he would “make no apologies” for taking the difficult decision but insisted he recognised “how hard some people, including pensioners, are struggling” with the rising cost of living.
The Prime Minister asserted that the triple lock – which means pensions increase according to the higher of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5% – would mean that the increases to pensions under his government “would exceed any cuts to winter fuel prices”.
Despite this, there are growing calls among senior Labour figures for the Prime Minister to rethink the plans.
Former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls last week questioned the proposal, suggesting the government needed a “way out”, while former Labour home secretary Sir David Blunkett slammed the decision in a closed-door meeting with party MPs.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats oppose the cuts, as do some trade unions.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Sharon Graham, general secretary of the trade union Unite, accused Labour of “picking the pockets of pensions rather than passing the burden on to the wealthiest”, and called for the government to continue paying for winter fuel by imposing a wealth tax on the richest one per cent.
Unity, backed by the RMT transport workers union, has tabled the motion at the Trades Union Congress’ annual meeting in Brighton this week, which also calls for a “proactive” industrial strategy that includes relaxed financial rules, increased public investment spending, further tax increases and greater nationalisation.
Meanwhile, shopworkers union Usdaw is calling on the government to remove the cap on second child benefits as part of wider reforms to the welfare system.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak is expected to take a more supportive stance in a parliamentary speech, saying “no government can fix 14 years of Conservative mess overnight” but that “Labour has workers’ interests at heart in a way that the Conservatives never did”.
