SCOTTISH Secretary Ian Murray has been accused of “total and utter hypocrisy” after The National unearthed an old tweet of his warning Conservative policies would leave pensioners “freezing to death”.
In August 2022, Murray shared a tweet by historian Charlotte Lydia Riley who cited a line from Tony Blair’s resignation speech in 2007 which said: “Ask when you last had to wait a year or more on a hospital waiting list, or heard of pensioners freezing to death in the winter unable to heat their homes.”
In his own post, Murray then said: “Pre-1997 I remember the news used to report almost daily the number of pensioners freezing to death in their own homes. We are heading back their this winter unless the Government acts now.”
The Scottish Secretary has now been panned for the comment after his party scrapped the Winter Fuel Payment for all but the poorest pensioners, all while the energy price cap is set to rise by 10% next month.
Pre-1997 I remember the news used to report almost daily the number of pensioners freezing to death in their own homes. We are heading back their this winter unless the government acts now. https://t.co/RRaaTR7r78
— Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) August 28, 2022
SNP MP Pete Wishart (below) told The National: “In situations like this there is always a tweet and this is classic Ian Murray, quite prepared to blame Conservative policies for throwing pensioners into fuel poverty, but now here he is two years later with the same range of difficulties being presented to pensioners because of Labour policy through removing the winter fuel allowance.
“It is total and utter hypocrisy, but it’s nothing less than we would expect from Labour as we approach this winter.
“There is a theme called the political horseshoe where both ends eventually meet when they started out on different trajectories and I think we’re already getting there with his new Labour Government.”
Labour have claimed the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment from those pensioners who do not claim benefits will save around £1.3 billion in 2024/25, and £1.5bn in subsequent years, and have insisted it is necessary as part of trying to plug a £22bn black hole left by their predecessors.
But their logic has been repeatedly criticised by experts and fellow politicians, with many in their own party opposing the move.
Mariana Mazzucato, a professor in the economics of innovation and public value from University College London, warned on the BBC’s Question Time that Labour’s decision to make cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment may not save them money at all as pensioners could end up hospitalised from being unable to heat their homes.
“The cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action,” she said.
She was also one of the signatories of a letter published in the Financial Times earlier this week by economists and ex-civil servants which warned plans to slash public investment in the October Budget would continue to “damage the foundations of the economy and undermine the UK’s long-term fiscal sustainability”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also come under renewed pressure to U-turn on spending cuts after receiving a £10bn budget boost from the Bank of England.
Her room for manoeuvre has been increased by a Bank decision to slow down the sale of government bonds stockpiled during the Covid lockdown.
Green MSP Maggie Chapman said Murray had made it “abundantly clear” his party know the consequences of cutting the Winter Fuel Payment.
She said: "It's the same old story. Labour oppose Tory policies while out of power, and then implement those same policies as soon as they get the chance.
“Voters must be left wondering what the point is.
"Ian Murray makes it abundantly clear that Labour knows the consequences of cutting back on the winter fuel payment - their own analysis said it will kill 4000 people.
“But now that they're in power they no longer consider those people a priority."
Labour’s own research published in 2017, when Keir Starmer was in the shadow cabinet, warned Conservative plans to cut the fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners would increase excess deaths by 3850.
The proposal, put forward by Theresa May’s government, was dubbed the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”.
Murray has been approached for comment.
