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Sir Keir Starmer has claimed he “sympathises” with millions of pensioners who have lost their winter fuel allowance and no longer stands by Labour’s own research that the cut will lead to thousands of deaths.
The prime minister was pressed on the issue which has dominated domestic politics in the UK as he flew to Washington DC for a strategic summit on Ukraine and the Middle East with Joe Biden.
Asked if the removal of winter fuel allowance was “a punishment beating” for a demographic which usually votes Conservative, Sir Keir retorted “absolutely not!”
But he admitted that the first two months of his premiership has been framed a “gloom” but insisted he would fight the election on his record and delivering on his promises, dismissing recent polls which have seen his approval ratings plummet.
When challenged on concerns that he may cut other benefits including the council tax discount, which could hit some pensioners by £1,000 a year, Sir Keir said that he would not start ruling things out ahead of the Budget.
“ I’m not going to say before the Budget what we’re going to do. That does not mean that I’m ruling in anything that you might be putting to me, it simply means like every Prime Minister we’re not going to reveal what’s in the Budget before we get to it. We did this in the election all the way through.”
This is despite the government already guaranteeing the the free TV licence and bus passes for the elderly this week.
Challenged on what he will feel if pensioners die this winter, Sir Keir said: "I think it is very important for me to make clear that we are pushing really hard on pension credit to make sure that everybody who is entitled to it is on pension credit.
"Secondly, linking housing benefits to winter fuel payments, and they are automatically protected. And triple lock, you’ve seen the prediction, it will increase by £450, £460.”
Addressing Labour’s own assessment in 2017 that means testing winter fuel payments would kill 4,000 people, he said: "The last assessment was many years ago."
Asked if he stood by that assessment, the prime minister said: "No, it’s a different assessment, different context.”
The assessment was made under the leadership of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn when Theresa May tried to get rid of winter fuel payments in the Tory election manifesto before U-turning on the threat.
Sir Keir added: “Of course I’ve got every sympathy with anyone who is struggling with any of their bills.
“I’m not pretending this is an easy decision, it’s a difficult decision. But the question we’ve got to answer is, how are you going to make up for a £22 billion shortfall this year, which we hadn’t expected to find, and we’ve taken the view that we have to stabilise the economy, we’ve got to deal with it.
“I didn’t want to do what the last government did which is pretend it’s not there, kick it down the road, put it in the long grass, or just leave it off the balance books because I don’t think that we can stabalise the economy…if we don’t stabilise the economy, we run the risk of inflation, we run the risk of not being able to end the cost of living crisis and that will hit pensions really, really hard.”
He said that it is“vitally more important” for pensioners that “the NHS is up and running properly, that transport is running properly.”
“Many, many people say to me their first worry is the state of the NHS and so this provides the platform for us to do the work we need to do there.”
On his own falling popularity, he said: “I’ll be judged when we get to the next election, on whether I delivered against the promises that I made. The promises I made were to stabilise and grow the economy so that everybody feels better off across the country, to ensure we’ve got a health service which isn’t just back on its feet, but is actually fit for the future, to ensure that we’ve got renewable energy, which will ensure that we’ve got cheaper energy, independence over our energy supply, and take the next generation of jobs.”
