Rachel Reeves is not going to apologise for her handling of winter fuel payments, says Cabinet colleague Ed Miliband.
The Net Zero Secretary sought to argue that the policy had been adapted after the public finances had improved.
He was repeatedly pressed, as he did the media round for the Government, whether the Chancellor would say sorry for axing the winter fuel payment for some ten million pensioners before restoring it in a major U-turn to all but two million of them.
“The Chancellor is not going to apologise for a series of measures she took to stabilise the nation’s finances when we came into office,” Mr Miliband told Sky News.
“She was confronted with a situation of a huge black hole in the nation’s finances.
“The thing that would hurt pensioners and others hugely is the economy going off a cliff.
“She took a whole series of measures to stabilise the nation’s finances.
“She has got more room for manoeuvre and she has heard the strength of feeling.”
But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch stressed: “This humiliating U-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter.”
Some nine million pensioners in England and Wales will receive the winter fuel payment this year, the Chancellor announced on Monday a £1.25 billion U-turn of Government plans.
The payment, worth up to £300, will be restored to the vast majority of pensioners who previously received it because anyone with an income of on or under £35,000 a year will now get the payment automatically.
The change means 7.5 million more pensioners, than previously planned, will now receive the allowance this winter.
Confirming the U-turn ahead of her Spending Review on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said the Government had “listened to people’s concerns” about the decision to limit the payment to the poorest pensioners last winter, and was now able to widen eligibility because Labour had restored “stability” to the economy.
Ministers have insisted no additional Government borrowing will be needed to cover the costs of the reversal, prompting warnings of tax rises or spending cuts.
Writing on social media site X, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, stressed: “The corollary of ‘this will not lead to permanent additional borrowing’ is that it will lead to permanent additional taxes (or just possibly permanent cuts to other bits of welfare).”
Those with an income above the £35,000 threshold will also receive the payment, but it will then be reclaimed from them in tax.
To be eligible for the winter fuel allowance, a person will need to have reached state pension age by the week starting September 15 this year.
The decision to limit the winter fuel payment to only those who claimed Pension Credit, or similar benefits, was one of Labour’s first acts in Government, aimed at balancing what was described as a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances.
This meant the number of pensioners receiving the payment was reduced by around 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million.
The U-turn has prompted some Labour MPs to step up their demands for the Government to climb down over planned welfare cuts.
