Sir Keir Starmer 'doubles down' over axing £300 Winter Fuel Payments

Sir Keir Starmer has cruelly DOUBLED DOWN on axing the £300 Winter Fuel Payments - telling the BBC today he is "happy to be unpopular". The new Labour Party government leader and Prime Minister spoke out over limiting Winter Fuel Allowances to pensioners who receive Pension Credit.

Sir Keir said: "We're going to have to be unpopular. Tough decisions are tough decisions. Popular decisions aren't tough, they're easy. When we talk about tough decisions, I'm talking about the things that last government ran away from, the governments traditionally run away from."

Speaking to Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, he added: "I'm convinced that because they've run away from difficult decisions, we haven't got the change we need for the country." He added: "I am absolutely clear in my own mind that we can't bring about that change if we don't fix the fundamentals and stabilise our economy."

READ MORE Martin Lewis' MSE issues 'warning' to UK households with central heating

He added: "Equally clear in my mind, in order to deliver the change which we will deliver, we have to fix the foundations now. And that's tough decisions." His comments came after Health Secretary Wes Streeting revealed he isn't "remotely happy" about the decision.

Streeting said: "I think it is a tough choice, and we've had plenty of political criticism for it, I think, which demonstrates the political pain of it. I'm not remotely happy about it, and I'm not remotely happy about having to say to some of my constituents, I'm sorry that I'm going into work this week to vote for something that will take money away from you."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned to expect more concerns to be raised by Labour MPs on Monday when she addresses a meeting of the parliamentary party. While many Labour MPs will be wary of voting against, fearing they will lose the whip, several dozen could abstain to show their discontent.

“The politics of this announcement were pretty grim,” former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb told the Observer on Sunday “It is one thing coming up with a package of cuts where everyone feels some of the pain but we are ‘all in this together’.

"But it is quite another to make one group of voters feel singled out by the government. And the problem was made worse a few weeks later when Ofgem announced a 10% increase in energy bills for this winter.”