Julia Lopez MP has written to the Prime Minister urging him to set out the details of his government’s u-turn on winter fuel payments, following his recent comments during Prime Minister’s Questions.
During this week’s session in Parliament, the Prime Minister stated that he wished to "ensure that more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments" – a reversal of the previous Labour policy which saw thousands of older residents lose access to the benefit last year.
In her letter, Mrs Lopez welcomed the shift in direction but called on the government to provide immediate clarity about how and when support will be restored. She warned that the original decision had already impacted vulnerable residents across Havering and Redbridge, citing that more than 17,000 of her constituents had been affected by the cut.
She highlighted that, according to NHS data, over 95,000 extra pensioners attended A&E over the winter months – a rise which some had cautioned could result from reduced support for energy costs.
Mrs Lopez criticised the timing of the initial announcement, made by the Chancellor outside of a fiscal event in July 2024, and argued that the same urgency should now apply to reversing the decision. She said pensioners on low incomes need certainty well ahead of the winter months in order to plan their household budgets, particularly given the increase in energy prices since the policy was introduced.
In her letter, Mrs Lopez concluded by asking the Prime Minister to urgently set out the government’s new approach in full.
