Keir Starmer has been challenged to set out the impact of his decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for all but the poorest pensioners in England and Wales.
Despite disquiet among many Labour MPs, the Commons backed the government’s plan to means-test winter fuel payments in a vote on Tuesday.
At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak repeatedly pressed Starmer to publish the government’s income assessment of the policy. Downing Street refused to state whether there was one and whether it would be published.
The change will withdraw the annual heating allowance, which is worth £200 or £300 depending on a recipient’s age, from all pensioners except those in receipt of pension credit. Charities and campaigners have said it will drive some pensioners into poverty.
Ministers have argued that the projected £460 increase in the state pension next year, thanks to the pension triple lock, will offset the loss of the winter fuel allowance.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “Ministers will receive advice on the development of all policies, but we don’t routinely provide a running commentary on the advice that they receive.”
In the Commons, Sunak twice asked the prime minister to publish the government’s impact assessment. He pointed to a Labour analysis from 2017 that claimed the policy could cause 3,850 deaths, and asked whether the numbers in the impact assessment were higher or lower.
Starmer replied that the Conservatives had “left a £22bn black hole and they hid it from the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility]”, and he insisted that “the increases in pensions will outstrip any loss of payment”.
The prime minister said: “We’re taking this decision to stabilise the economy. That means we can commit to the triple lock. By committing to the triple lock, we can make sure that payments of the state pension are higher and therefore there’s more money in the pockets of pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action that we needed to take.
“But he [Sunak] goes around pretending that everything is fine. That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”
Sunak accused Starmer of “hiding the impact assessment”. The prime minister’s spokesperson repeatedly declined to confirm whether the government had carried one out.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, an energy minister, said this week that the government would publish “a statistical publication” on the impact of the policy “in due course”.
In response to a written question from John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, who had the whip suspended this summer, Fahnbulleh said: “A statistical publication estimating the rate of fuel poverty for those in receipt of winter fuel payment in 2023, and the proportion of households who would be in fuel poverty under new eligibility criteria, will be published in due course.”
The policy is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving more than £1bn this year. The measures are expected to come into force next week.