Kenneth Gibson MSP has criticised the new Labour Government’s “continued austerity” following its unexpected announcement - it was not in their manifesto - of a cut to the Winter Fuel Payment.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP confirmed that the Winter Fuel Payment will no longer be available to all pensioners, reducing the number of people eligible from 11.4 million to 1.5 million across the UK. According to Department of Work and Pension figures, only 10.8% of pensioners in North Ayrshire receive pension credit.
North Ayrshire has 31,824 pensioners of whom 21,674 will each lose £200, with approximately 6,712 pensioners aged 80 and over each losing £300.
This represents a collective loss of £6,348,400 a year to North Ayrshire’s pensioners.
Despite Labour deputy leader in Scotland Jackie Baillie MSP previously saying that she would “always fight to ensure this payment is protected”, her leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar MSP is now backing this cut, which comes on top of a decision to tax state pensions from 2028.
Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“The SNP repeatedly warned that Labour’s damaging decision to copy Tory fiscal policies would mean around £18,000 million of cuts or tax rises. Labour flatly denied this and promised there would be no cuts. Our pensioners will now be some of the first to see what these promises were worth, as cuts and tax rises now look like £22,000 million!
“The cost-of-living crisis means that pensioner-poverty affects far more than those who receive means-tested benefits like Pension Credit. Labour has applied this cut to a whopping 89.2% of North Ayrshire pensioners who previously received from Winter Fuel Payments and who will now have to do without this winter.
“It also means an economic hit of £6,348,400 locally, as struggling pensioner households have less to spend.
“Pensioners have for too long suffered under Westminster and that looks set to continue under a Labour Government, which must reverse its plans for imposing more austerity on our older citizens.”
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