JohnLeeds East MP Richard Burgon has spoken out after voting against Labour’s cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
The Labour government yesterday held off a backbench rebellion over plans to cut the winter fuel allowance but its majority fell to 120.
MPs voted 348 to 228 to axe the payment for all but the country’s poorest pensioners, rejecting a Tory bid for the controversial policy to be blocked. The Government’s usual working majority is 167.
Mr Burgon is currently standing as an independent MP after the Labour whip was suspended for six months when he rebelled against his party in a vote to scrap two-child benefit cap in July.
Writing for PoliticsHome, Mr Burgon said: ” I simply couldn’t vote to cut this support today for millions of pensioners in need.
“Many MPs have cited just how many letters and emails they’ve had asking us not to cut the winter fuel allowance. My inbox too has been inundated. What pensioners in my constituency have said to me is often heartbreaking.”
Mr Burgon cited some examples of pensoners’ concerns and said Age UK estimates that 13,900 older people in Leeds East are set to lose the winter fuel allowance payment – a constituency with some of the greatest deprivation in the country.
He added: “For me, the main reason I voted against this cut is because of the serious impact it will have on so many pensioners already living below the poverty line. My vote against this change was a matter of conscience given that I know that it is not only going to cause greater hardship for poorer pensioners but also cost lives.”
Chancellor and Leeds West and Pudsey MP Rachel Reeves said today: “I am under no illusion about the scale of the challenge we face after 14 years of low economic growth. That’s why we are taking the long-term decisions now to fix the foundations of our economy, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.”
Only Labour MP for Normanton and Hemsworth, Jon Trickett – a former Leeds City Council leader – supported the Conservation motion to block the cut. Leeds East MP Richard Burgon, who is currently independent after having the Labour whip suspended, supported the Conservative amendment.
No vote was recorded for 53 Labour MPs, although this does not automatically equate to an abstention for each MP as they may have received permission to miss a vote. Labour sources said 12 of the MPs absent for Tuesday’s vote had not been authorised.
The winter fuel payments of either £200 or £300 are normally made in November and December and will still be paid to all pensioners claiming pension credit to top up a low income.
The number of fuel payments will fall from 11.4 million to 1.5 million this winter.
Next month’s Budget will involve “difficult decisions” on tax, spending, and welfare, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has today told the BBC.
Mr Burgon was re-elected in Leeds East under a Labour ticket with a landlside majority in July.
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