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Louise Thomas
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Watch as Labour cabinet ministers arrive at Downing Street for a meeting on Tuesday 3 September.
Sir Keir Starmer gathers his top team as he faces facing party backlash and fresh Tory attacks over the government’s decision to strip the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners.
The decision by the prime minister and chancellor Rachel Reeves would result in a “bureaucratic and unpopular means test” for older people, Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan said as he tabled a Commons motion calling for the government to delay the move on Monday.
Only those receiving pension credit or other means-tested benefits will be eligible for the payment in England and Wales as a result of the government’s decision, which ministers have said is needed to help fill a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
But Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch accused ministers of being “dishonest” about the state of the finances, claiming they were trying to “pull the wool over the eyes of the British public”.
Sir Keir has defended the move, which is intended to save around £1.5 billion this year.
