{"id":3431,"date":"2025-05-06T09:37:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T09:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/winter-fuel-cuts-were-factor-at-elections-says-minister\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T09:37:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T09:37:03","slug":"winter-fuel-cuts-were-factor-at-elections-says-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/winter-fuel-cuts-were-factor-at-elections-says-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"byline-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dEGcKf\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new\" class=\"sc-801dd632-0 eSlECZ\">\n<div class=\"sc-801dd632-1 eeJXtz\"><time datetime=\"2025-05-06T09:30:15.659Z\" class=\"sc-801dd632-2 IvNnh\">7 minutes ago<\/time><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors\" class=\"sc-801dd632-12 jSIeFi\">\n<div class=\"sc-801dd632-5 kRoBHa\">\n<div><span class=\"sc-801dd632-7 lasLGY\">Paul Seddon<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Political reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 kVRMhO\">\n<div data-testid=\"hero-image\" class=\"sc-4abb68ca-1 eOgpjw\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7EuctZ.png\" class=\"sc-4abb68ca-0 itgEAh hide-when-no-script\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/640\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 640w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 1024w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1536\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp 1536w\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/20e3\/live\/c22f3e10-2a58-11f0-859e-290fa58380cc.png.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Getty Images Wes Streeting\" class=\"sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe\"><span class=\"sc-4abb68ca-2 kkAKIJ\">Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dEGcKf\" readability=\"23\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Restricting winter fuel payments dented Labour&#8217;s support at last week&#8217;s local elections, the health secretary has acknowledged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Wes Streeting told the BBC many voters &#8220;aren&#8217;t happy&#8221; with the move, adding it had &#8220;come up on the doorstep&#8221; during campaigning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">But he insisted the move would help the government invest in public services despite &#8220;multiple crises that we&#8217;ve inherited&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Streeting said the policy was not being formally reviewed, after the Guardian said ministers were considering partially reversing the cuts later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">He said Labour was reflecting on the elections last week at which the party lost around two-thirds of the seats it was defending. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dEGcKf\" readability=\"29\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">But he added: &#8220;We are reflecting on what the voters told us last Thursday at the ballot box.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">No 10 sources say conversations have taken place about how to address the scale of public concern about the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of \u00a3200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to \u00a3300 for over 80s, paid in November or December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Last year, the government decided to restrict the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save \u00a31.4bn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">The move, which did not feature in Labour&#8217;s election manifesto, means around 9 million pensioners will no longer qualify for the top-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">It has been seen as a key issue at last week&#8217;s elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"sc-737179d2-0 erjHHi\">&#8216;Multiple crises&#8217;<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dEGcKf\" readability=\"27\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Streeting told the BBC: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to insult your viewers by pretending that winter fuel didn&#8217;t come up on the doorstep, of course it did&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I know that people aren&#8217;t happy about the winter fuel allowance in lots of cases,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;We did protect it for the poorest pensioners, but there are a lot of people saying they disagree with it regardless&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">However, he also defended the move as part of a wider package of changes, that would provide the &#8220;means of raising the investment&#8221; in public services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;Unfortunately when you look across the board at the breadth and depth of the multiple crises that we&#8217;ve inherited, in order to deliver the change that people voted for we have had to do heavy lifting at the Budget,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Published at Tue, 06 May 2025 09:30:15 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister 7 minutes ago Paul Seddon Political reporter Getty Images Restricting winter fuel payments dented Labour&#8217;s support at last week&#8217;s local elections, the health secretary has acknowledged. Wes Streeting told the BBC many voters &#8220;aren&#8217;t happy&#8221; with the move, adding it had &#8220;come up on the doorstep&#8221;&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/winter-fuel-cuts-were-factor-at-elections-says-minister\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-politics","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}