Bridget Phillipson skewered in Sky News grilling as winter fuel U-turn detail confirmed.uk
MPs urge Prime Minister to reverse controversial policy completely and return to system where every pensioner gets the benefit
Bridget Phillipson was quizzed over the Government’s winter fuel u-turn (Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)
Labour will not reverse winter fuel cuts for all pensioners, Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson has admitted during a brutal Sky news grilling. Some Labour MPs are urging the Prime Minister to perform a full U-turn and return to a system where every pensioner gets the benefit.
But the Education Secretary ruled out making it universal again, as Labour faces intense pressure from Nigel Farage and Reform UK on welfare. On Tuesday, Mr Farage will vow to reverse the cuts and scrap the two-child benefit cap – divisive issues among Labour MPs. Ms Phillipson told Sky News: “We do want to make sure that more pensioners can benefit from the winter fuel allowance, but I don’t think anybody would seriously believe that millionaires should be getting it.
Nigel Farage and Reform UK are applying intense pressure on Labour (Image: Getty)
“And on the wider question of Reform, they’re just not serious.
“They are not serious people. It’s not credible.
“This is a party after all that doesn’t believe in the NHS, that would dismantle the NHS as we know it, that has consistently opposed the measures that Labour has brought in to back workers through the Employment Rights Bill, making sure, for example, that more workers can access to sick pay.”
Sky News host Wilfred Frost hit back: “So you don’t think that restoring the winter fuel payment universally and removing the two-child benefit cap is a sensible policy.”
The Education Secretary said: “I don’t think it is serious to suggest that millionaires should receive the winter fuel allowance, but we are committed to ensuring that more pensioners can benefit from the winter fuel allowance.”
She then continued her attack on Nigel Farage’s party, declaring: “They’re not on the side of working people.
“And every chance they get to back working people, whether that’s through free breakfast clubs, whether that’s through the Employment Rights Bill with greater rights at work, and whether it’s backing the record investment that this Labour Government is delivering into our NHS, they don’t support it.
“That’s who they are.”
In his speech, the Reform leader will commit to restoring winter fuel payments for pensioners in full and scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The Prime Minister announced at PMQs last week that he would make changes to the controversial winter fuel policy, which was widely blamed for Labour’s pummelling in the local elections.
The Government has faced an ongoing backlash for axing the allowance for most OAPs in the autumn budget last October in a bid to save the Treasury £1.5 billion a year.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir is also facing intense pressure from Labour backbenchers to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which limits the benefits parents can claim to up to two children.
It comes as Reform is riding high in the opinion polls after its victories in the local elections and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
The latest YouGov survey put the insurgent party in first place, followed by Labour, the Lib Dems and then the Tories in a historic fourth.
