Stone backs motion to protect Highland pensioners from Winter Fuel Payment cut
Jamie Stone, MP for Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross, has backed a motion in Parliament to block government plans to scrap Winter Fuel Payments for most pensioners.
It comes as new analysis shows that pensioners are at risk of losing the £300 payment, which helps with heating bills throughout the winter months.
If passed, the Liberal Democrat motion would protect pensioners by blocking the government’s changes and restoring their winter fuel payments. It is set to be tabled as soon as Parliament returns next week and has been backed by all 72 Liberal Democrat MPs.
Across the country, 11 million pensioners are set to lose their winter fuel payment under the government’s plans, including two million that the charity Age UK has said will struggle to afford their energy bills as a result. This is despite the average energy bill being set to rise by £149 a year from October.
Commenting, Mr Stone said: “Pensioners across the far north are worried sick about how they will afford their energy bills this winter.
“Losing this vital support just when energy bills are set to rise again is simply wrong. It could force vulnerable elderly people in our community to choose between eating and heating this winter. This is a particularly pertinent concern in my constituency – one of the coldest parts of the UK in the winter.
“I recognise that the new government faces difficult choices, but a rethink is urgently needed so that vulnerable pensioners in our community continue to get the support they need.”
Under the government’s changes only those pensioners who receive pension credit or other means-tested benefits will still get the £300 winter fuel allowance towards the cost of their energy bills.
The Liberal Democrats will table a parliamentary motion to block the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024, published by the Government last week, from becoming law. If passed by the House of Commons, the motion would keep the current system of universal Winter Fuel Payments for pensioner households in place.
Age UK research has estimated that two million pensioners will struggle to pay their energy bills due to this cut.