Sir Keir Starmer is known around the world for taking winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners, a top economist has said.
The prime minister’s decision to means test the payment, which affected around 10 million pensioners, has had a “much bigger” reputational effect than expected, Paul Johnson added.
Mr Johnson, boss of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), told Times Radio: “I was talking to the head of an international insurance company recently who said that the one thing everyone around the world knows about this government is that it’s taking money away from helping the cost of fuel for pensioners.
“So it’s one of those things which actually from a sort of fiscal point of view is pretty small but has turned out, I think, to be much bigger from a political and reputational point of view than the government expected.”
Polling firm More in Common has found that Sir Keir’s winter fuel cuts are Labour’s most damaging policy in government.
More of the public are aware of the change than any of Labour’s other policies, while around two thirds of voters dislike the policy.
More in Common director Luke Tryl has described it as Labour’s “original sin” and said it had a major impact on the party’s disastrous performance in last week’s local elections.
The measure, announced by Rachel Reeves weeks after Labour came to power in July, is expected to save the government around £1.5bn, but will push more than 100,000 pensioners into poverty.
IFS director Mr Johnson said it is a “perfectly sensible thing to do” as much of the payment previously went to wealthier people who could afford to pay for it.
But after the local elections, one of Labour’s re-elected mayors hit out at Sir Keir over the winter fuel cuts, while a group of left-wing MPs demanded a change of course from the PM.
Ros Jones, who was narrowly re-elected as mayor of Doncaster, beating the Reform candidate by just under 700 votes, told the BBC: “I wrote as soon as the winter fuel allowance was actually mooted, and I said it was wrong, and therefore I stepped in immediately and used our household support fund to ensure no-one in Doncaster went cold during the winter.”
Left-wing Labour MP Kim Johnson was among a group of backbenchers warning that Sir Keir’s current approach is leaving the door open to Reform UK and the far right.
“Voters want change – and if we don’t offer it with bold, hopeful policies that rebuild trust, the far right will,” she wrote on X.
Sir Keir defended the “tough decisions” he has taken in power, including winter fuel cuts, arguing that Labour “inherited a broken economy”.
He added: “Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn’t there … I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable.”
The prime minister went on: “Yes, they were tough decisions, they were the right decisions. Because of those decisions we are now seeing waiting lists coming down, something people desperately want.
“Because of that, pensioners are now £470 up as of last month. These are really important changes we’ve brought about, but yes, they’re political choices.”
A government spokesperson said: “Our priority is ensuring pensioners receive the financial support they deserve and over 12 million will benefit from our commitment to protect the Triple Lock.
“We’ve also boosted Pension Credit claims, with the Department receiving around 105,000 extra applications since the previous year and made nearly 50,000 extra awards over the same period.
“Alongside this, we’ve increased the National Living Wage, uprated benefits, and are helping over one million households by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions, putting more money in people’s pockets as part of our Plan for Change.”
