Winter fuel payment vote a moral test for every Labour MP
Today’s vote on the winter fuel payment is a moral test for every single Labour MP and their commitment to tackling poverty, says Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman.
Ms Chapman said: “Today’s vote will be a moral test for every Labour MP. Not a single one of them stood on a manifesto with this cut in it. Will they side with some of their most vulnerable and marginalised constituents, or will they vote to plunge even more of them into poverty?
“The winter fuel payment is a lifeline for people all over our country, particularly pensioners. Removing it will force many to make demeaning and difficult choices about whether they will heat their homes or feed themselves this winter.
“Means testing is wrong. It creates stigma. It creates cracks for people to fall through, while fuelling division with questions about who is worthy of receiving services and who is not.
“Every MP who votes for this knows the consequences: more poverty and more pain. In some cases it could even lead to deaths.
“It is a cruel political choice by a government that is showing itself to be every bit as callous as the Tories who they were elected to replace. Rachel Reeves says that this is about saving money, but she is choosing to punish pensioners rather than taxing the obscene wealth of those like her party’s cronies and donors.
“I urge every Labour MP to consult their conscience before they vote today and ask themselves if they really want to cut support to their constituents just before a long cold winter.
Ms Chapman added: “If we are to tackle fuel poverty then we need real and bold action from our governments to lower costs and transform our broken energy market.
“That means removing the huge loopholes from the windfall tax, ramping up investment in renewables and finally breaking the link between the price of fossil fuels and the clean green energy that Scotland is generating cheaply.”