Winter fuel vote delay an outrage, says union

The Unite trade union has said it is an "outrage" that an expected vote on the winter fuel payment cuts at the Labour Party conference has been delayed.

The non-binding vote had been expected on Monday, the same day Chancellor Rachel Reeves is giving her conference speech to party supporters in Liverpool.

The vote, which calls on the government to reverse cuts to the payment, is now expected on Wednesday when many activists will have left the conference.

Reeves said implementing the cut was not a step she wanted to take, but that it was one of the "difficult decisions" needed to fix the economy.

Speaking to the BBC, she insisted there would not "be a return to austerity" and that overall government spending would rise over the next four or five years.

However, some departments could see their budgets cut and Reeves said "detailed" spending would be "negotiated".

She also said the "only way to sustainably fund public services is through growing the economy".

Throughout Labour's conference, trade unions have been urging Reeves to U-turn on cuts to the winter fuel payments, which will see 10 million pensioners in England and Wales lose out on around £200-£300.

In addition to calling for a reverse to the cut, Unite's motion also says "any public expenditure gaps" should be filled by "taxing wealth".

The motion was backed by other Labour-supporting unions including Aslef.

Mick Whelan, boss of the rail union, said: "We are disappointed that this motion has been moved and we don’t understand why."

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Right now it is fair to say that the Labour leaders have tried to silence the voice of pensioners, workers and communities at party conference."

She said the delay to the vote was a "blatant manoeuvre to block debate on winter fuel cuts and the departure towards austerity mark two".

"When this becomes widely known there will be real anger among everyday people."

The head of the GMB union, Gary Smith, criticised the government's handling of changes, saying there was a "discussion and debate to be had about reform" of the allowance, but he was "not happy" with the way it was handled.

"It’s hurting a lot of our pensioners on low incomes," he said.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who has been one of the leading voices opposing the cut to winter fuel payments, told the BBC she was urging the government "to look at what mitigations can be put in place" to protect pensioners over the winter.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who is currently suspended from the parliamentary party after voting against the government in July, said going ahead with cutting winter fuel payments was "a dreadful mistake".

"I am bitterly disappointed that Rachel Reeves is refusing to listen to the profound worries people have about the Winter Fuel Allowance and is just ploughing on despite all the evidence of the hardship and suffering this would cause," he wrote on social media.

Despite some disquiet among Labour MPs and opposition from the other parties in Parliament, the government won its vote to implement the cuts by a majority of 120.