Britain’s leftist Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and his Labour government are cutting winter fuel assistance for pensioners as the country is set to give nearly a billion dollars more to Ukraine. The assistance cuts could force pensioners reliant on the payments to cut back on heating, resulting in thousands of deaths during cold weather.
Beginning this autumn, pensioners in England and Wales who do not receive pension credit or other means-tested benefits will lose their winter fuel payments, typically ranging from £100 to £300. In response to allegations that the cuts could cause pensioners to die from cold, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds claimed that this year’s state pension is higher than last year’s, and energy bills have decreased.
Every year, hundreds of old-age pensioners across Britain die during the winter months, and data from Labour themselves claims that as many as 4,000 could die due to the fuel cuts. A majority of 120 votes upheld the Prime Minister’s proposed fuel payment cut, with only one Labour MP voting against the government’s measure.
Meanwhile, the UK government also announced this week that it would be giving Ukraine a further £600 million (nearly $800 million) in aid after Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Lammy stated that the money, in the form of £242 million in direct aid and $484 million in World Bank loan guarantees, would go toward Ukraine’s conflict with Russia—providing the Eastern European nation with fiscal support and military equipment.
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