*This post has been updated following the vote - see below* 

MP for Hornchurch & Upminster, Julia Lopez, has called on the Labour Government to reverse its plan to remove the Winter Fuel Payment from around 17,000 pensioners in the constituency.

Just weeks after the election, the new Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a cut to the Winter Fuel Payment taking hundreds of pounds from Havering’s vulnerable pensioners, money that would usually have helped with their heating bills during the winter.

Labour’s decision to limit the Winter Fuel Payment to those receiving pension credit (those with an income below £13,000) comes despite Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, saying that Labour had ‘no plans to make changes’ to pensioner benefits.

Julia Lopez MP believes that, whilst there is a broad consensus that the wealthiest pensioners do not need the winter fuel payment, the Government’s crude method of means testing the benefit will mean that many pensioners who rely on this payment will no longer receive it. 

Now only those on less than £13,000 will receive the support at a time in which Ofgem have announced that the price cap on energy bills is due to rise by 10% from 1 October onward.

Julia Lopez said:

“The new Labour Government has chosen to remove the Winter Fuel Payment from around 17,000 pensioners here in the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency, including some of the most vulnerable.

“We have known for a long time that it would be Labour’s plan to falsely claim the public finances were worse than they could have known. While we expected this tactic to be deployed to justify tax rises - which we still expect in the autumn - I am surprised that Labour have hit pensioners in this way and so soon.”

“This is a purely political decision rather than one taken out of necessity. The same week as the plans were announced, Labour found money temporarily to satisfy the unions, making their preferences clear.”

Update

On Tuesday 10 September Julia voted to STOP Labour’s plan to cut winter fuel payments for 17,373 pensioners in the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency.

Mrs Lopez voted AYE on the Conservative motion to BLOCK the plans to cut Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners.

Around 17,373 pensioners in Hornchurch & Upminster will now lose up to £300 in Winter Fuel Payment after Labour MPs voted to scrap the scheme in the House of Commons on 10 September.

In total, 348 Labour MPs voted to cut the payments, despite warnings that pensioners would be forced to choose between heating and eating this winter.