News / Labour councillor opposes party’s winter fuel payment cuts
A LABOUR councillor says he would have voted against his party’s controversial bill to cut winter fuel payments.
Labour’s winter fuel allowance motion was passed through parliament on Tuesday, despite a number of party members abstaining from the vote.
The £300 payment will now no longer be paid to all pensioners, and will instead be given only to those on means-tested benefits.
Shetland and Orkney MP Alistair Carmichael was one of 228 MPs to vote against the bill – with 348 giving it their backing.
Carmichael said the Liberal Democrats estimated as many as 8,840 pensioners in the Northern Isles could now miss out on the payment this winter.
And Shetland’s sole Scottish Labour councillor Tom Morton said he did not support his party’s move to cut the benefit, adding he would have voted against it.
He called their decision “blinkered and callous”, pointing to Shetland’s already high rates of fuel poverty.
The bill only applies to England and Wales – however, the Scottish Government has said it will roll-out the plans north of the border too.
Morton criticised “the SNP’s hypocrisy in failing to ensure the fuel allowance applies in Scotland”.
All of the Liberal Democrats MPs opposed the bill on Tuesday, and Carmichael said he was glad his party “stood together” in trying to vote it down.
“We all understand the dire state the Tories left the public finances in but now is not the time to be cutting energy bill support to vulnerable people,” he said.
“Winter is fast approaching and energy bills are on the way up.
“Ministers need to recognise that people risk falling through the cracks and falling further into fuel poverty if these cuts go ahead.
“Since these restrictions were announced I have been inundated by messages from local people expressing their concerns about this decision.
“The government needs to listen and rethink its plans.”
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