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Rishi Sunak has accused Sir Keir Starmer of taking the winter fuel payment away from pensioners to give money to “highly paid train drivers”.
The opposition Conservative leader used the first Prime Minister’s Questions after the summer recess to criticise the government’s decision to take winter fuel payments away from pensioners not on pension credits while approving public sector pay rises.
Mr Sunak said: “Government is about making choices and the new prime minister has made a choice.
“He has chosen to take the winter fuel allowance away from low income pensioners and give that money to certain unionised workforces and inflation-busting pay rises.
“So can I just ask the prime minister why did he choose train drivers over Britain’s vulnerable pensioners?”
Train drivers in London earn an average of just under £60,000 a year and will now get a 5% rise backdated for 2022 to 2023, a 4.75% rise for 2023 to 2024 and a 4.5% increase for 2024 to 2025 – a total of 14.25% over three years.
The prime minister retaliated by saying the government was elected “to clear up the mess left by the party opposite”, and said “it’s no good them complaining” when the government had found a “£22bn black hole”.
“So we’ve had to take tough decisions to stabilise the policy and repair the damage, including targeting winter fuel payments whilst protecting pensioners,” he said.
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