On Tuesday, MPs endorsed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s contentious plan to eliminate fuel allowances for millions of pensioners, putting his nascent premiership through its first test.
The proposed cuts have enraged some Labour MPs and created the first conflict with the party’s union supporters since Starmer entered office in July.
The uproar illustrates the struggle confronting Britain’s centre-left leader as he attempts to repair an economy he claims was harmed by the previous Conservative government while still keeping supporters on board.
In July, Labour declared that it will put the winter fuel allowance to the test, which means that 10 million pensioners will no longer receive assistance with their energy bills during the colder months.
Starmer agrees the decision is “unpopular,” but says that “tough choices” are required to help close a £22 billion ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public budget that Labour alleges they inherited from the Tories.
The former lawyer has spent much of his first months in office condemning the Conservatives for a poor economic legacy, but Tory MPs accuse him of laying the framework for potential future tax increases.
‘Painful’
Starmer has asked Britons to “accept short-term pain for long-term good” but is already coming under pressure to offer the country a less gloomy outlook.
Last month he warned that the government’s Budget in late October — Labour’s first official spending plan since it was last in power 14 years ago — would be “painful”.
He saw off any significant rebellion on Tuesday when MPs voted by 348 to 228 against a Conservative motion to block his government’s decision to scrap the universal winter fuel payments.
Only one Labour MP voted with the opposition.
It was not immediately clear how many Labour lawmakers abstained but it is likely that several did since the government’s normal majority of 167 in the House of Commons was reduced to 120.
“This is not a decision we wanted or expected to make. But when we promised we would be responsible with taxpayers’ money, we meant it,” work and pensions minister Liz Kendall said ahead of the vote.
The payments are worth £300 for some older individuals, and two big unions have urged Starmer to rethink his decision, which the Treasury thinks will save £1.4 billion annually.
Labour claims that a planned increase in the entire state pension beginning next April will more than compensate for the elimination of the winter fuel allowance.
However, Unite boss Sharon Graham accused Labour of choosing to “pick the pocket of pensioners” while leaving the richest “totally untouched”.
One of Labour’s newest members had proposed a motion to delay the implementation of the cut, which 17 MPs had signed.
The big majority won by Labour in the general election on July 4 puts Starmer in a strong position to win votes on controversial subjects.
Commentators argue that now is the moment for him to adopt controversial initiatives, with the next election likely to be five years away.
Starmer suspended seven of his own MPs in July after they supported a resolution calling for the abolition of the previous Conservative government’s two-child benefit cap.