WES Streeting has claimed there is “fairness at the heart” of the Labour Government’s decisions following cuts to the universal Winter Fuel Payment.
It comes after Labour MPs voted to impose a £1.4 billion cut on pensioner benefits by scrapping the universal payment and stripping around 10 million pensioners of cash to help people pay their energy bills.
On Wednesday, Keir Starmer refused to come clean on the impact of cutting the benefits as he refused to commit to publishing an impact assessment of the policy, which critics say risks the lives of thousands of pensioners.
"Given the dire straits that the NHS is in, should you really be nicking money off pensioners?" - @KayBurleyHealth Secretary @wesstreeting says pensioners 'will still be better off' this winter than they were in 2023. ➡️ https://t.co/OLufWoxtxz 📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/vfn6nOw1jp
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 12, 2024
Speaking to Sky News’s Kay Burley, the Health Secretary said “more hard choices” were still to come although said pensioners would be better off this winter compared to last year.
Asked specifically if he had done an impact assessment on cutting the payment, Streeting said: “We don’t normally do impact assessments day-to-day. There will be an impact assessment on all of the fiscal decisions around the Budget and the spending review.”
Pressed further on this, Streeting said: “Well the Conservatives know full well that we don’t normally do impact assessments on every policy decision day-to-day.
“There is going to be an impact assessment on all of the Budget and spending review. There will be an impact assessment that takes into account the cumulative decisions the Chancellor makes.
“We’ve got fairness at the heart of what we are doing and as I say I know it’s hard and if I think about the sickness in our society, the sickness in the NHS and the sickness in the public finances, the medicine doesn’t always taste good but it’s a damn sight better than the alternative and that’s why we are making difficult choices.”
The host also asked him how he “sleeps at night” after voting to remove the payment for so many pensioners.
He replied: “How do I feel? I feel really angry that we’ve walked into a situation with a £22bn black hole.
“Our predecessors spent the national reserve three times over in an act of profligacy and waste unprecedented outside of a crisis like the pandemic.
“I think they should be ashamed of themselves and we are now cleaning up their mess, that’s hard. The medicine is hard to swallow.”
Streeting also claimed the Tories would not “take responsibility” although Burley accused him of “deflecting from the question” as she said it was "outrageous" to "take money away from pensioners".
“It’s not deflection, it’s about responsibility. It is outrageous. A £22bn black hole, it's outrageous.” he said.
In a separate interview with BBC Breakfast, Streeting was also grilled on the impact assessment.
BREAKING Wes Streeting has confirmed that Labour didn't carry out any impact assessment before cutting the pensioner's winter fuel payment. He also signalled other groups face similar cuts. pic.twitter.com/hBE1IvfZ88
— MSM Monitor (@msm_monitor) September 12, 2024
He was asked by host Charlie Stayt: “You have done a report, as I understand it, that sits possibly on your desk looking at the assessment in terms of the potential health impact of the changes your government has brought in.
“Why can the public and the media not see that report?”
Streeting replied: “There’s no such report and there’s no such report on my desk.”
