The powerful Unite union has slammed the Prime Minister over axing the winter fuel payments for pensioners.
During Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool delegates are backing Unites motion calling for the winter fuel payments to be reversed as around 10 million pensioners will be affected that could see up to 4,000 dying over the cold months.
In a major blow for the Prime Minister Labour Party conference members have backed Unites motion to reverse the “cruel” cut to the winter fuel payments.
Alan Tate, of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) warned that pensioners will be “worried” over having to chose “between heating and eating.”
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Tate said, “The CWU has been inundated with emails and calls from our retired members worried about choosing between heating and eating.”
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham who is a long-term critic of Sir Keir Starmer warned him that this “is not what people voted for,” and this is “austerity mark two.”
She told delegates, “People simply do not understand, I do not understand, how our new Labour Government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super rich untouched.
“This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed.
“We are the sixth richest economy in the world. We have the money.
“Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two.
“We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt.
“Let’s hold up our heads and be proud to be Labour.
“Let’s put our arms round the working class and make lasting change.”
Graham added, “Our public services and British industry need investment now.
“It’s no good having sympathy for workers at Grangemouth losing their jobs. They don’t need pity.
“They need Labour to step up to the plate and not allow a billionaire, who buys a football club as a hobby, to throw these workers on the scrap heap.
“We cannot leave Britain at the whim of footloose corporations. Hoping for them to invest is a prayer, not a plan.
“Yes, Britain is broken. Yes, the Tories have left a mess and yes, they are to blame. But Labour is now in Government, and we can’t keep making everyday people pay.”
