There is usually never a good time for any prime minister to announce a U-turn. In the case of the cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel payments, it has long been clear that a reversal could not come soon enough. Sir Keir Starmer’s surprise announcement at Prime Minister’s Questions was, therefore, highly welcome.
The recent thumping Labour received in the local elections, the loss of the Runcorn and and Helsby by-election, the electoral threat posed by Reform UK, and poor poll ratings seem finally to have forced a government rethink.
