Tories walk out of meeting over winter fuel debate

Tory councillor Dan Jellyman accused Labour of not supporting the city's pensioners

Conservative councillors stormed out of a meeting in Stoke-on-Trent following a debate about winter fuel payments.

The Tory group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council walked out of Thursday’s meeting after a motion they tabled was amended by the ruling Labour group.

Councillor Dan Jellyman, Tory group leader, said Labour would not support pensioners in the city who would lose their winter fuel allowance under the government’s changes to the scheme.

Labour councillors accused the Conservatives of hypocrisy for supporting welfare reforms under the previous government.

The motion proposed to condemn the Labour government’s decision to remove winter fuel payments for all but the poorest pensioners.

According to the Conservatives, it would affect more than 47,000 residents in Stoke-on-Trent.

But the council’s ruling Labour group amended the motion, toning down its language and calling for the policy to be revised rather than scrapped.

After Labour councillors moved to end the debate and hold a vote, the entire Conservative group left the council chamber in protest.

Labour councillor Daniela Santoro said the motion's language was "unnecessarily harsh"

Mr Jellyman said: “What we’ve seen today is a Labour Party opposite that will not support 47,761 pensioners in this city, to send a clear message to their government that the act of withdrawing winter fuel payments should be condemned.”

He accused Labour of “closing the debate down”, describing it is a move “that even Kim Jong Un in North Korea would be embarrassed by”.

Councillor Daniela Santoro, who proposed the Labour amendment, said that while the previous universal payments were unfair and inefficient, she thought the new criteria were too strict.

"These individuals while not qualifying for additional benefits are still struggling with rising living costs. For them, the loss of the winter fuel pay," he said.

But she described the language in the original Tory motion as “unnecessarily harsh”.

Labour councillor Duncan Walker described the welfare reform under the previous government as a "disgrace" and said the would "not tolerate hypocrisy" from the local Conservative group.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.