Nigel Farage mocked “panicking” Labour MPs as he demanded Sir Keir Starmer explain why pensioners are losing winter fuel payments while the UK hands £18 billion to a foreign country.
The Reform UK leader faced a barrage of heckling from Labour MPs, but he hit back: “They really are panicking.”
He also highlighted the impact of the government’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments on a war-hero constituent.
Mr Farage asked: “What do I say to 25,000 constituents in Clacton” including a 99-year-old man who flew “a full set of missions” as a Lancaster bomber pilot “as they are losing their winter fuel allowance, feeling the pinch at the same time as we are giving away a military base” at a cost of £18 billion?
Sir Keir said Mr Farage should tell his constituents to “vote Labour” – but did not defend the winter fuel cut.
He said Labour MPs “really are panicking.”
The Prime Minister is pressing ahead with handing over the Chagos Islands but has denied claims he is doubling the £9 billion offered to new owners Mauritius.
The Indian Ocean islands are home to a strategically vital UK-US military base, and plans to hand them to Mauritius have been delayed since the US raised concerns.
But Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam said Sir Keir had told him that “he intends to push ahead with the agreement reached between Mauritius and the United Kingdom” and expects a “speedy resolution” within weeks.
The UK is said to have offered £9 billion to lease back the military base. Still, Mr Ramgoolam has suggested the figure was effectively doubled as the Labour Government offered to increase it with inflation each year.
The Government has denied the claim – but failed to reveal what it says is the true figure.
Earlier, Sir Keir claimed national security could be put at risk without a deal to give “legal certainty” over the status of the Chagos Islands and the strategically important Diego Garcia military base.
The Government argues that international legal rulings on sovereignty over the archipelago mean the UK has to cede the islands to Mauritius.
“Without legal certainty, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should,” he told MPs. “That is bad for our national security, and it’s a gift for our adversaries.”