Labour members have formally passed a motion calling for the winter fuel payment cut for pensioners to be reversed.
The motion, named An Economy for the Future and tabled by Unite’s Sharon Graham, was narrowly carried by a show of hands in a rowdy hall at the Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool on Wednesday.
It called for means testing of the winter fuel allowance, worth between £100 and £300, to be reversed and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.
Ms Graham told delegates that Britain is the “sixth richest economy in the world, we have the money”.
She won loud applause when she said: "Our public services and British industry need investment now.
"It's no good having sympathy for workers at Grangemouth losing their jobs: They don't need pity, they need Labour to step up to the plate and not allow a billionaire, who buys a football club as a hobby, to throw these workers on the scrap heap."
She added: "Britain needs investment, not austerity mark II.
"We won't get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt."
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the Government had "done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years" as she defended cutting the winter fuel allowance to pensioners.
She told the conference: "Focusing winter fuel payments on the poorest pensioners wasn't a decision we wanted or expected to make, but when we promised we could be trusted with taxpayers' money - we meant it.
"And when we were faced with a £22 billion black hole, which the Tories left this year, we had to act, because we know what happened when Liz Truss played fast and loose with the public finances.
“It was working people and pensioners on fixed incomes who paid the highest price.”
Earlier on Wednesday morning, union delegates staged a noisy protest ahead of a debate on the Government's controversial decision to cut winter fuel allowance.
Members of Unite gathered outside the conference hall and shouted "save the winter fuel" alongside Ms Graham.
Wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan "Save The Winter Fuel", she said the Prime Minister had made a "mis-step" in cutting the allowance, and should reverse it.
"The Government is picking the pockets of pensioners and people are furious," she said.
"We will continue to campaign to have the allowance put back into pensioners' pockets."
Unite's motion calling for the cut to be reversed was due to be debated earlier this week, but was changed to today, the final day of the conference when Sir Keir Starmer had left to go to United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Ms Graham said moving the debate was "disrespectful", adding she was confident of getting support from delegates for the motion, which is being backed by the Communication Workers Union.
CWU officials will not be at the conference on Wednesday as they are attending the funeral in Scotland of the union's former assistant general secretary Andy Kerr, who used to be on Labour's national executive.
Opponents of the decision to restrict winter fuel payments, so only those on pension credit get it, staged a noisy protest against it in the conference complex before the vote.
Sir Keir said in his conference speech on Tuesday that he understood concern over the winter fuel allowance.
But he stressed that stabilising the economy was the first step of a long-term plan, adding: “Every pensioner will be better off with Labour.”
The Government argues that the move is needed as part of a plan to fix an alleged £22 billion black hole in the public finances, a claim refuted by the Tories.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also warned of more “tough” choices on further public spending cuts and tax rises in the October 30 Budget but denies that there will be a return to austerity.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the union will continue to campaign for the policy to change.
“We don’t accept it is good economics,” he said.
The motion stated that workers and communities voted for change, “not cuts to the winter fuel allowance”.
“We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts and those that profited from decades of deregulation finally help to rebuild Britain,” it said.
