JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Taking away winter fuel is the most despicable financial act I have ever seen. It makes no sense… Labour MUST make a U-turn

The abolition of the winter fuel surcharge for almost 10 million senior citizens is one of the most despicable acts I have seen from any government – ​​blue or red – since I started writing about personal finance issues 35 years ago.

Every time I think about it, my blood boils with anger, even in the middle of the night.

Last Tuesday, after the Prime Minister’s defence of his Chancellor’s pay cuts – and my visit to Downing Street to deliver a letter urging Labour to make a U-turn – I woke up in a sweat. I had dreamed that Sir Keir Starmer had locked me in the Tower of London for the ferocity of my criticism.

It took me forever – and a few Nytol sleeping pills – to fall asleep again. Maybe it was a premonition. A reader had jokingly said that The Tower was where I was going.

A month after the announcement by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, I still can’t believe it.

However I look at it, however I analyse and dissect it, the decision to take away the payment (worth up to £300 a year) from all pensioners except those on pension credit is wrong. Terribly wrong.

For a start, it doesn’t make financial sense in terms of savings (£1.4 billion a year). In the realm of government spending – around £1.226 billion a year plus or minus £1 billion – £1.4 billion is peanuts.

And given the recent influx of pensioners qualifying for pension credit, I’m confident that £1.4 billion will not be saved.

Why Chancellor? Is it because most pensioners vote Tory?

Is it because your older, champagne-drinking friends joke about giving the payment to their grandchildren?

If so, step out of your comfort zone and talk to the older retirees who are struggling: they are afraid of the coming winter and the sky-high (unaffordable) energy bills.

It also makes political sense. As campaigners have argued in recent weeks, scrapping universal entitlement to the payment will hit some of the poorest pensioners hardest: those who are eligible for pension credit but unable or unwilling to claim it; and the two million older people whose incomes are just above the eligibility threshold.

It begs the question: what does Labour stand for if it does not protect the most vulnerable in society? Targeting pensioners is misguided and wrong – and many Labour MPs, Labour colleagues and left-wing commentators know it.

The letter delivered to Rachel Reeves last week, supported by redacted correspondence from readers affected by the loss of the winter fuel payment, called for a suspension of the changes. Too many pensioners simply don’t have enough time to adjust their budgets to make up for the loss of this winter’s £200 or £300 payment.

We have also urged the Chancellor to look at other ways of reducing the payment, for example by taxing it as if it were part of the state pension. We have not yet heard from Ms Reeves, but we will publish her response when (and if) it comes.

I fear that she has no intention of changing her mind and that she may well confirm this stubborn attitude when the House of Commons reopens this week.

I hope she doesn’t bury her head in the sand. The tide is against her, and she needs to accept that she made a terrible blunder with the winter fuel payment.

A turnaround will make no difference to the health of the country’s public finances.

As we all know, a load of income-raising taxes are coming our way in the coming months. Feel free to make my financial life a bit more difficult, but please don’t line the pockets of hard-working pensioners.

Delighted by the kindness of Mail on Sunday readers

Two final comments on winter fuel payments. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who contacted me by email or letter to express their thoughts on the matter.

I tried to answer everyone. If I forgot someone, my apologies.

Secondly, I’d like to say a special thank you to a handful of readers who offered to help out some of the pensioners my colleague Toby Walne and I wrote about in Money Mail (our fantastic sister money column that appears every Wednesday in the Ny Breaking).

The two pensioners in question (Brian Ashton and David Tarrant) feared that losing their winter fuel payment would seriously impact their ability to feed their pet (a dog who is on a vet-prescribed diet due to acute weight problems) – and to purchase an electric hoist to lift his wife in and out of the car for day trips away from her care home.

Mary Connelly, Celia Walser, Julia Hillchurch and Joan Breeze were among those who offered to pay for the dog food or contribute to the purchase of the lift. Kindness personified, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from you dear readers.

Use your library so that the municipality cannot throw it away

Like banks, libraries are an important part of the fabric of a community. Sadly, like high street branches, they too are closing – 800 since 2010 – while many are reducing their opening hours. More closures are likely in the coming months unless Labour eases some of the financial pressure on many near-bankrupt councils – or councils prioritise essential services over creating more dodgy jobs (which come with golden pensions).

Our love for libraries has been on full display in recent weeks, following the damage caused by rioters to the Spellow Library Hub in Walton, Liverpool. Donations of over £250,000 have poured in from all corners of the UK, as well as local people, to replace the library’s damaged books and repair the building.

The library in my home town of Wokingham, Berkshire, is part of a thriving community centre (the Carnival Hub) with a gym and swimming pool. It also occasionally hosts live music events – in late 2022 I saw some pretty good tribute bands there (Ultimate Elton & The Rocket Band plus The Police Academy). I even danced to their version of Roxanne.

There are also spaces where local groups, such as Wokingham Writers, meet occasionally. Early last month I was delighted to be invited to a book launch by local author Stephen Ross – a rather racy tale called The Candlemaker’s Affair. Stephen is a remarkable person who managed to finish the book despite being diagnosed with motor neurone disease halfway through writing it.

I even took the opportunity to check out two PJ Tracy books (from the Monkeewrench series) from the library and read them without being fined for returning them late.

Like your local bank, use your library and make sure the council can’t get away from it. Community matters – something Labour says it cares about too. Well, let’s wait and see.