While a new survey finds that nearly 2million Brits can’t afford to turn on the heating this winter and pensioners are being forced to go without, Keir Starmer keeps getting the government further into a political hole
Denis Healey’s first law of politics, advising ministers in holes to stop digging, is one the government must bear in mind.
Withdrawing the winter fuel allowance from 10 million pensioners is the hole in this case – but it’s not too late for Keir Starmer and his ministers to stop digging and climb out.
A quarter of the elderly people who say they won’t even turn on the heating this winter blame losing the benefit, which is worth up to £300. These people potentially freezing in their homes is an avoidable catastrophe.
Labour has a face-saving alternative available. It could find the money by taxing higher earners, closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy and raising unfairly low rates for those enjoying capital gains and big inheritances.
A Uswitch survey finding that 1.7 million homes across all age groups could go without heating this winter should sound another alarm bell in Downing Street.
Labour inherited poor public finances and trashed services from the Tories, so difficult decisions will have to be taken and somebody must pay. But it should not be cold pensioners.
Start debating
Giving MPs a free vote on assisted dying is, in some ways, the simplest part of Keir Starmer’s pledge to Esther Rantzen.
Tougher, much tougher, should Parliament decide in principle that the law should be changed, would be introducing a system
that protects the vulnerable and reassures opponents nervous about the moral implications of the issue.
Given how long the parliamentary process will take, we should start engaging in the discussion now, to get our opinions in place for the inevitable public consultation.
Careful Kate
The Princess of Wales’s first Court Circular-listed meeting since she began cancer treatment is a landmark moment.
But it is good that she is going back to work only gradually. By putting health before duty, Kate sets a good example to us all.
