Presenter and author Carol Vorderman has called on the prime minister to apologise over cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners.
The controversial policy was approved by parliament today, despite a number of Labour MPs abstaining from the vote, with ministers saying “tough decisions” were needed to fix the public finances.
But it was widely criticised by opposition MPs and campaigners, who warned the move would leave millions of pensioners worrying over how to make ends meet.
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Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub show with Sophy Ridge, Vorderman said Labour’s decision to pursue the cut was “astonishing”.
Asked by Sophy what Sir Keir Starmer should now do, she said: “I think he should apologise. I absolutely do.”
The broadcaster, famed for her stint on Channel 4 gameshow Countdown, has become more vocal about her politics in recent years, and in the run-up to July’s general election gave her backing to a tactical voting website designed to “stop the Tories”.
She said: “I was following intently the build-up to the election and we had just under two million postcodes typed in [to the website]… we know it had an influence.
“And millions of people loaned their vote to Labour in the belief that finally this gross inequality that has grown over the last 14 years would be diminished somewhat.
“And then this [cutting the winter fuel allowance] is the first thing.”
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Vorderman said she understood why ministers would want to take the payment – worth up to £300 – from wealthy pensioners who got the money regardless of their income.
“I’ll be one of those in two years time”, she added. ” So I wouldn’t need the winter fuel allowance payment.
“But to go from 12 million to less than two million pensioners receiving it is just way too low.
“And I’m shocked by it, because they could raise that money in so many other ways.”
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Asked by Sophy if she believed the government had “duped” the public ahead of them getting into power, she said: “I do, I really do. And I am shocked because, even extracting the fact that many pensioners will be suffering because of it… it is unbelievable that this new Labour government the first thing they do is that?
“It is not, I don’t believe, what they were voted in to do, it is quite astonishing really.”
When this was put to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, he told Sophy: “We had a mandate [at the election] to get a grip of the public finances, and what we didn’t know in opposition – what the public didn’t know – was that the Conservatives had hidden the facts that there was £22bn of bills coming this year they’d put no money aside for.
“That’s the running of our health service, our GP services, our schools, our police. It is our responsibility, because we are trusted on the economy, with people’s money, to be able to find the money to pay those bills, to keep our public services running to order.
“That’s about resetting the budget so that at the Labour Budget on 30 October, we can start to invest in fixing the foundations and then start to deliver on our manifesto to rebuild Britain.”
The full interview will air on Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge tonight at 7pm.
