Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appeared on BBC Lincolnshire this morning and was quizzed about changes to the Winter Fuel Payment.
BBC presenter Sean Dunderdale asked about the Winter Fuel Payment changes and played a clip from a worries listener named Maxine will be impacted.
She said: “We just can’t keep warm – people are going to die, elderly people are literally going to die, how is he going to live with that? Is he going to have the courage to back down from a terrible decision?”
Maxine is reportedly wearing extra layers and can’t put the heating on this week in the cold weather due to the Winter Fuel Payment cuts.
Maxine is 63 and won’t be eligible for pension credit until 67 so she is not eligable for pension credit.
Starmer said: “There’s the warm homes discount for people who need that support and I’d happily make that available to your programme so that people can get access to it but at the moment and until we bring into force the changes, the allowance is paid to everyone irrespective of whether they need it or not.
“And there’s a lot of pensioners who say ‘I don’t actually need it’, and I then have to answer the question, ‘What difficult decisions can we make to ensure we can use our money most effectively?’
“We’ve got problems with the NHS as you know, the waiting lists are through the roof, I’ve got to bring those down, that’s not possible.”
He added: “Many pensioners are waiting for operations, and we have to bring those waiting lists down and that’s what we’ve made a priority in the budget.
“But I would say, where people are entitled to pension credit, I would ask and encourage them to take that up because it’s very important that they get that level of protection.”
Winter fuel payment changes – which are expected to save up to £1.5 billion a year – have been widely condemned by charities, opposition parties, unions and some Labour politicians.
The Government faced criticism for not carrying out a full impact assessment into the controversial policy, which was announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in July.
