Labour fails moral test of fuel poverty vote
The Scottish Greens have condemned Labour MPs who have voted to scrap the crucial winter fuel payment for pensioners.
Scottish Greens social security spokesperson Maggie Chapman MSP said:
“This is a dark day for Westminster, cutting vital fuel payments for some of the most marginalised people in society, forcing them to choose between heating and eating this winter.
“If this was a moral test for Labour MPs, they have failed miserably. Only weeks ago, they were elected on a promise of ‘change’, yet they are choosing to further 14 years of Tory austerity, forcing more poverty and more pain on their constituents.“They're choosing to punish pensioners rather than tax the obscene wealth hoarded by a small minority. This was a political choice by a government that's showing itself to be every bit as callous as the Tories were.”