JEFF PRESTRIDGE: The winter fuel payment cut is outrageous. The BBC should be ashamed of themselves for what they are saying about it…

What a disgrace for the BBC to help Labour defend its decision to deprive 10 million pensioners of winter fuel payments, while its news broadcasts were ‘exposing’ Treasury details of inflation-busting state pension increases expected from April.

As I listened to the report on Radio 4’s Today programme last Thursday, my mood changed from happy to furious. The passenger sitting next to me on the Great Western Railway train to London Paddington shifted uncomfortably in his seat as I muttered a few curse words (I immediately apologised).

BBC News chiefs should be deeply ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be cynically used as a political tool by Labour. But the truth is that reporting on the government’s ruthless slashing of the winter fuel payment for all but those on pension credit (and a few other benefits) has been barely challenging since Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the decision. Like Labour, the BBC has shown little empathy for the elderly.

The breathless reporting about next year’s expected increase in the state pension was based on Treasury ‘internal working calculations’ seen by a BBC reporter. I cannot imagine for a moment that these ‘calculations’ were dug up by clever journalism or accidentally left on a train by a civil servant and passed to the BBC to be ‘seen’.

Of course not. In a sleight of hand, they were given to the BBC by someone inside the Treasury in an attempt to quell widespread anger over the winter fuel payment cut.

This anger is entirely justified, given that analysis by former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb – in his role as a partner at consultancy LCP – suggests that 84 per cent of pensioners living in poverty will lose their fuel payments, worth up to £300. Treasury figures ‘seen’ by the BBC suggest that those on the ‘new’ full state pension will receive an annual increase of £400 or more in the new tax year – a result of the triple lock, which guarantees pensioners an annual increase based on the higher of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent.

In other words, a 3.5 percent increase, which would more than offset the loss of winter fuel payments – although of course only half of pensioners on the new state pension will get the full amount.

While the BBC says this will mean an annual state pension of around £12,000 for those receiving the new full state pension (up from £11,502 this tax year), older pensioners (pre-2016) will get a smaller increase of around £300. This means an annual pension from April next year worth around £9,000, compared to £8,814 currently.

So many over-80s who lose their £300 winter fuel payment will be no better off next tax year than they were this year. Disgraceful.

For the record, this two-tier state pension is terribly unfair and with every passing year the gap between the ‘new’ and the basic payment grows wider. It is an issue that comes up in my mailbag every week. As ever, Baroness Ros Altmann, a tireless campaigner for the elderly, hits the proverbial nail on the head.

Commenting on the BBC’s interference in the Treasury’s internal calculations, she said: ‘The oldest pensioners will lose £300 without warning, money they were expecting in November.

“That money could have helped them get through the winter. The poorest and oldest will now lose hundreds of pounds – and promising them a few extra pounds a week next spring is small comfort. Sadly, some will not survive the coming months.”

Altmann believes ministers should take a step back, halt the changes and look again at how the winter fuel allowance can be taxed or limited – rather than simply taking it away from many poor pensioners.

This week the House of Commons votes on Reeves’ winter fuel payment reform. I sincerely hope that many Labour MPs ignore the BBC’s distorted reporting and speak their constituents’ minds by voting against the changes.

…and a lyrical look at Labour’s ‘robbing’ of OAPs

I am indebted to reader Arthur Gilbert for his glowing response to Labour’s decision to abolish the winter fuel surcharge.

Arthur is a retired structural engineer from Billingham, County Durham. He is a talented individual who regularly emails me with his views on important personal finance issues.

He also has a great Facebook page called Gilbert’s, Have Bus Pass Will Travel, Travels, which details walks people can do near where he lives. I wish I’d known about this two months ago when I spent a few days in Whitby getting wet – Arthur’s recommended walk along the old railway line would have been more fun than the slippery Cleveland Way.

Arthur said his lyrics should be sung to the signature tune of ITV’s The Adventures Of Robin Hood. The closing theme song, Robin Hood, was written by Carl Sigman and sung by Dick James.

I remember it well from watching the series – starring Richard Greene, above – with my younger sister Joy in the 1960s. I’ve edited Arthur’s lyrics (sorry, Arthur) and given you just a taster, but there’s no doubt he expresses the thoughts of many pensioners who feel they’ve been robbed by Labour.

Robben Hood, Robben Hood

Driving through the house

Robben Hood, Robben Hood

Winter fuel payment to extinguish

Loved by the bad, feared by the good

Robben Hood, Robben Hood, Robben Hood

Labour took away the winter fuel payment from the needy,

Blame Hunt for a

£22 billion black hole

While great rewards are being handed out

to unions, the greedy

And how they boasted: ‘We are in control now’

Robben Hood, Robben Hood

Driving through the house…