Sir Gavin Williamson, MP for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge, has joined forces with other MPs and called for the Government to reverse its decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
In September, Sir Gavin voted against the measure, expressing his horror at the “cruel and frankly unnecessary” plans to change the eligibility criteria for Winter Fuel Payments to pensioners who receive pension credit. This change would affect almost 20,000 pensioners in the Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge constituency, as many people would narrowly miss qualifying for the benefit.
The Government has been lambasted for refusing to publish official estimates for how many pensioners will be affected, and for not providing an impact assessment for the policy. Experts including Age UK and the Social Security Advisory Committee have criticised this decision and claimed that the policy may not actually save any money.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor has announced up to £50 billion in further borrowing, a figure which dwarves the widely disputed “£22 billion black hole” and the estimated £1.3 billion this policy will save.
Sir Gavin said ““Utterly disgraceful”, “angry”, “shocked”. This is just a snapshot of my inbox. Pensioners across Staffordshire feel that they are being used as pawns in a political game.”
“If the Government can justify spending £22bn on uncosted Net Zero projects, and £4m a day on opening new asylum seeker hotels, I am sure they can find the money to keep our pensioners warm this winter.”
“This is not about “preventing austerity” – it is about priorities. I urge all those concerned to sign our petition and show the Government that our pensioners should not be an afterthought.”
You can sign the petition at www.keepwinterfuel.com, and can find further details on applying for pension credit at www.gov.uk/pension-credit or by calling 0800 99 1234.
