Rachel Reeves refused to back down over the decision to strip winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners but insisted she understood voters’ concerns about the cost of living.
The Chancellor’s decision to means-test the payment has been blamed for contributing to Labour’s hammering at the ballot box in contests across England last week.
The Chancellor said: “That policy stands, it was necessary to put the public finance on a firm footing.”
She told reporters: “I do get people’s concerns about the cost of living.
“That’s why, whether it’s the triple lock, the national living wage, the cuts in interest rates, we are determined to put more money into people’s pockets.”
The decision last July to restrict the winter fuel payment to the poorest pensioners was intended to save around £1.5 billion a year, with more than nine million people who would have previously been eligible losing out.
Anger about the policy on the doorstep has caused unease within the Labour ranks after Reform UK won hundreds of council seats and took the previously safe Runcorn and Helsby seat in last week’s parliamentary by-election.
The Red Wall Labour group told the Prime Minister that “responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.
They called on the Government to “break away from Treasury orthodoxy otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need”.
Statement from the Red Wall Group of Labour MPs following the local elections pic.twitter.com/RKgJbhmU6z
— LabourRedWallGroup (@RedWallGroup) May 6, 2025
Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan, mindful of her party’s own electoral battles at next year’s Senedd contests, has also called for a “rethink” on the winter fuel policy.
The Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Good Morning Britain that he understands “where people are coming from” and has heard concerns from his own constituents.
Mr Reynolds said: “You’ve got to be clear, sometimes you can’t do everything at the same time, sometimes there are difficult decisions, and means-testing winter fuel payments to the people who need it most, making sure every pensioner is better-off by having the triple lock in place, I think is the right decision between those two key policy areas.”
He told the ITV programme: “We want to go faster, and we will, but we understand where people are coming from and I say again, those were a tough set of election results, I’m not shying away from that at all.”
It comes as new YouGov data suggests Labour are polling at their lowest level since the era of Jeremy Corbyn.
The latest voting intention figures show Reform on 29%, with Labour lagging behind on 22% and the Conservatives on 17%.
Reform UK record their highest ever poll rating in YouGov's latest Westminster voting intention, while the Tories and Labour are at their lowest since 2019
— YouGov (@YouGov) May 7, 2025
Ref: 29% (+3 from 27-28 Apr)
Lab: 22% (-1)
Con: 17% (-3)
Lib Dem: 16% (+1)
Green: 10% (+1)
SNP: 3% (=) pic.twitter.com/NP6hFoGc5w
According to YouGov, this is the lowest the party has polled since October 2019 under Mr Corbyn, as Mr Farage’s party continue to out-poll the Government.
In another sign of discontent within Labour, former Cabinet minister Louise Haigh suggested hostile briefings appeared targeted at female ministers.
After reports Lisa Nandy and Bridget Phillipson could face losing their jobs in the next reshuffle, she said: “I was really angry at the weekend to see the response to the electoral defeat that we had suffered at the hands of Reform to be that we should sack two female northern cabinet ministers and two of our best communicators with those voters that we need to communicate with most.”
She told BBC’s Newsnight: “I only ever seem to read briefing against my female former colleagues.”
Asked whether she thought the briefing was sexist or misogynistic she said “all of the above”.
The Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “No one wants to see any briefing against any member of the government.”
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Ms Haigh’s analysis that the hostile briefings were sexist, the press secretary said: “I’m just going to condemn any briefing against any member of the government.”
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