To think that with over 1million pensioners in poverty, removing the WFA makes Labour the nasty party, who tell blatant lies?

[TealTraybake]

And hypocritical lies at that. Just a few months ago Labour ‘vowed to be the party for pensioners’

‘Nearly 1 million people aged over 66 in the UK are living in deprivation, according to government statistics, the highest number since comparable records began.
Labour, which analysed figures from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) records, has vowed to be the party for pensioners, with plans to insulate millions of homes and reduce energy bills. It has also “committed to retaining” the triple lock which guarantees annual rises to the state pension’

I understand the WFA should be means tested - but the current threshold is far too low. Food prices have gone up. Energy prices have gone up. Some pensioners need that WFA 🥺.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/16/nearly-1m-uk-pensioners-deprivation-official-figures

Ridiculous, as generalisations, er..generally are.

So true. Predictable isn’t it.

Thank God I didn't vote them in

OP no one likes having money taken away. I didn’t like it when my child benefit was taken away. But it’s for the greater good. The WFA is 50-80p per day. The majority of pensioners can afford that I reckon, especially if it supports the NHS that they are significant users of.

They'd better stick to those high Labour voter threads if these mn ones get to them. There's loads of criticism for Starmer and co off here

It will help out a lot of struggling local councils. I wouldn't be against this.

@echt ridiculous when some say the truth is a generalisation.

This works for me.

This works for me.

Are you by any chance one of those people who constantly complain about Labour and private school fees?

Pensioners are partly responsible for the state of the country. They voted the Conservatives into power knowing the damage they've done to the public services. They deserve it. And what about the young people in our country? Who's looking after them?

But the pensioners that this predominately affects are likely to be people who have earned a very low wage for most of their lives (and thus not accrued private pensions) or are women who entered the workplace late after raising children

And that’s just a laughable generalisation; my parents are pensioners and have mostly voted Labour throughout their lives

You didn’t miss much, it was just a load of arguing.

MPs claimed a total over £1.2m for energy bills in second homes over the 4.5 years of the previous parliament (London MPs are not entitled to it). As it is paid by someone else they have no incentive to try to save energy. Bearing in mind that parliament only sits for 37 weeks each year, some of the individual claims are horrendous. The highest claim came from Labour's Liam Byrne who claimed £18,400.

It makes me wonder about MPs who overpay on their energy direct debits building up a massive balance with the energy company. When they stand down or get voted out and go back to their constituencies, they are able to claim the balance back from the energy company and pocket it.

What other ways?

All Labour MPs are banging on about a £22bn "black hole" in the finances. This represents only 1.6% of government spending - so in no way is it a massive problem.

The current 5p/litre cut to fuel duty was introduced in 2022 due to price spikes following Russia's invasion of Ukraine when petrol was 166p/litre on its way up to 190p. Today, petrol is down to 138p, and removing the cut would increase government revenue by over £5bn/year. There is even scope to increase duty by more than this 5p.

That might be the case, but I am sorry, with the help of pensioners, conservatives managed to ruin our country. In general election after general election, pensioners overwhelmingly (not all) voted for conservatives, who robbed the young generation of a decent life and gave the proceeds to pensioners so they could vote them in again. Let the pensioners feel the hardships as well, not only the youngsters. And let's not forget, pensioners most likely have a roof over their heads, while young people struggle to pay rent.

They deserve it.

Are you including a pensioner who worked decades on a low wage who is now afraid they can’t heat their home over winter? And may suffer conditions, falls and so on.

That’s aiming pretty low for deserving it

"There would be outcry if the government decided to make "difficult decisions" and start stripping away child benefit / universal credit from families. " No there wouldn't. We've had 14 years of being told that we all have to knuckle down and accept cuts for the greater good and there's no magic money tree etc and why should millionaires' kids have free school meals etc etc. Suddenly means testing is bad now it's the other lot doing it!

Fwiw I think pension credit is far too low of a cut off but that the very wealthiest should not be given state handouts for fuel because of their age. However, it does grind my gears somewhat that we can't accept the demographic crisis that's going to hit us and that means people my age (late 20s) may no longer have a state pension at all. Certainly I'm prioritising paying more into my work pension.

Current pensioners weren't paying into their own pension pot via NI contributions - they were paying for the smaller number of individuals receiving the state pension at that time, in the same way that the NI I pay is going to current pensioners. The winter fuel payment didn't exist until 1997. Indeed, many current pensioners voted for Margaret Thatcher who decoupled pensions from average wages in the early 80s. Plenty were happy to shaft others when it suited them.

Again, I think the cut off now is too low (although we should note that £12k with housing costs and £12k without housing costs are very different incomes), but I do reserve the right to be a little annoyed with "socialism for the pensioners only, free market capitalism and cut down on Netflix and lattes for everyone else" which is what 2010-2024 was in practice.

It’s been the younger generation can take the hit, well the younger generation are struggling too.

And I wonder if the single person's council tax reduction will vanish too?

Look how many that will hurt.

Yes that’s coming in the budget for sure, another of Labour’s “painful decisions”

Yeah I’m convinced this will be in the budget - terrible idea in my opinion, affects so many different groups - single parents, young people, widows, pensioners etc etc

Yes just shocking. I despair. They seem to be targeting the very people they should be protecting.

The only people they’ll protect / reward are the civil service, trade union members and (most) other Labour politicians.

But surely even Labour aren’t stupid enough to remove the SPCTReduction.