Rachel Reeves has responded to calls for an apology after months of anguish for pensioners.
Nine million will now receive the Winter Fuel Payment this year after it was paid only to those on pension credit last year.
Millions who had previously received the payment when it was universal lost out after the Chancellor announced her decision to impose limitations.
Reeves has now changed the policy to include pensioners with an annual income of up to £35,000, meaning around nine million pensioners in England and Wales will receive the payment.
Rachel Reeves refused to issue an apology
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Speaking to GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, Reeves did not provide an apology for any difficulties her policy provided.
Christopher said: “This is a political Hokey Cokey by your Government. It’s a humiliating U-turn.
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“Do you want to apologise to millions of pensioners who have been so upset about your policy?”
Reeves responded: “We had to make difficult decisions last year. Public finances were in a total mess when I became Chancellor last summer and we had to take immediate action to get a grip of the public finances.
Protests against Winter Fuel PaymentsPA
“We have been able to do that. We have returned stability to the economy. In the first quarter of this year, our economy was the fastest growing in the G7.
“We’re now able to make different choices and therefore I can announce that this winter, nine million pensioners will receive the Winter Fuel Payment.”
“No apology?”, Christopher asked.
“We made the right decision last year to put public finances back on a firm footing”, Reeves asserted.
Rachel Reeves did not apologise for the U-turn, saying the policy was necessary at the time
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“We’ll continue with the means test that we set out last year but because of what we managed to do to bring stability back to the economy, more pensioners will receive the Winter Fuel Payment this year.”
The GB News political editor asked whether the Chancellor is concerned about creating another black hole for her Government to contend with.
“We will set out all of the policies in the budget, that is normal”, she said.
“We wanted to announce the level at which the Winter Fuel Payment will be paid. Announcing it now means we can put the processes in place so people can get the payment they are entitled to.”
The payment is worth up to £300 and helps with energy bills during the coldest months.
The U-turn is set to cost some £1.25bn to taxpayers per year and will see the vast majority of those who missed out on payments last winter receive them.
The original cut to universal Winter Fuel Payments had been estimated to save £1.7bn.
Cutting the payment proved unpopular with fears many would be stung more than others.
It was widely blamed for Labour’s poor local election results and it comes ahead of the Government’s Spending Review on Wednesday.
