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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
Ed Balls has been criticised by Good Morning Britain viewers for not being vocal enough during an on-air discussion of recent winter fuel cuts.
The presenter, 57, is married to the home secretary and Labour MP Yvette Cooper, 55, who voted for older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits to no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards.
Balls’ marriage became a point of contention when Labour won the 2024 election in July. Weeks later, 8,201 angry viewers sent complaints to the broadcaster watchdog Ofcom after Balls was allowed to interview his own wife about her home secretary role on the breakfast show.
During Tuesday’s episode of Good Morning Britain, viewers expressed shock that Balls was still allowed to present the programme and called for him to be removed from the show.
“Why the f*** is Ed Balls still on #GoodMorningBritain @ITV?” questioned one viewer.
“He’s bl**dy useless. There are tons of actual journalists out there who could do the job better. They wouldn’t be sitting there like a lemon whilst the co-anchor interviews their wife, mates, former colleagues etc.”
Another person added: “I am just sick of Balls. Hasn’t he twigged that his wife is a very senior member of the government he is constantly undermining?”
Meanwhile, a third viewer claimed Balls had been “very quiet on winter fuel cuts” and pointed out “his wife actually voted for the cuts and put pensioners at risk this winter.”
The Independent has contacted ITV and Ed Balls’ representatives for comment.
Balls has been married to Cooper for more than 25 years. Prior to interviewing her in August, he claimed he had “genuine questions” for his wife and claimed he had “rarely seen her at all in the last week” due to her busy work schedule.
The controversy comes shortly after it was revealed Labour’s own research had suggested thousands of pensioners could die if the government proceeds with its plan to cut winter fuel payments for those not on benefits.
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Analysis published in 2017, when Sir Keir Starmer was in the Shadow Cabinet, warned that Conservative plans to cut the fuel allowance for ten million pensioners would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.
The proposal, put forward by Theresa May’s government, was dubbed the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”.
Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann urged the government to U-turn on the planned cuts, claiming it may not be aware of the extent of poverty among pensioners.
She told Times Radio that the one to two million people slightly above the means test threshold “are poorer than those on pension credit and there is no mitigation for them”.
Altmann added: “The chancellor and the prime minister may not be aware of just how there are so many poor pensioners in this country and are focusing perhaps just on those who are very well off.”
