John Harris writes: “Today, amid deep dismay, the House of Commons approved the government’s ill-conceived and dangerous plan to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from most pensioners in England and Wales” (Starmer and Reeves are playing a dangerous game. How much more do they think Britain can take?, 10 September). He is right to highlight the lack of ambition for rapid change and the counsel of despair that characterises this Labour government, which is doing little to engage with “ambient austerity”.
We are all familiar by now with the government’s arguments for making savings – the “black hole” in public finances that must be filled, the inefficiency of universal benefits and the existence of a pension credit safety net for the poorest. But the optics of this are all wrong. Targeting pensioners to make relatively small savings appears inhumane and callous, and will cause widespread fear and anxiety, increase the risk of cardiorespiratory problems for those too scared to turn on the heating, and contribute to excess winter deaths.
