UK Government Stands Firm on Winter Fuel Payment Cuts After Election Losses
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government will not reverse cuts to winter fuel or welfare payments, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday, after a series of bruising losses in English local elections.
Labour Party politicians said the party's poor performance in the elections was in part because of unhappiness with the government over the cuts to the fuel and disability payments.
"The government has set out its policies and the reasons behind these policies and there is no change to the government policy and there will not be a change to the government's policy," a spokesman for Starmer said.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that the government is rethinking last year's move that took winter fuel payments away from pensioners.
Under plans set out by Labour within weeks of taking office last July, the government cut universal payments worth up to 300 pounds ($402) for millions of pensioners unless they were eligible for government benefits.
The move was necessary finance minister Rachel Reeves said at the time because of the state of finances she had inherited from the previous Conservative government.
Over the coming weeks, the government will set out a number of key policies to show the party is taking decisive action in areas such as defence, housing and migration, the prime minister's political spokesman said.
($1 = 0.7469 pounds)
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Sarah Young)
