Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 6, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe UK government will not reverse winter fuel payment cuts despite election losses, maintaining the policy to manage inherited financial challenges.
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government will not reverse cuts to winter fuel or welfare payments, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday, after a series of bruising losses in English local elections.
Labour Party politicians said the party's poor performance in the elections was in part because of unhappiness with the government over the cuts to the fuel and disability payments.
"The government has set out its policies and the reasons behind these policies and there is no change to the government policy and there will not be a change to the government's policy," a spokesman for Starmer said.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that the government is rethinking last year's move that took winter fuel payments away from pensioners.
Under plans set out by Labour within weeks of taking office last July, the government cut universal payments worth up to 300 pounds ($402) for millions of pensioners unless they were eligible for government benefits.
The move was necessary finance minister Rachel Reeves said at the time because of the state of finances she had inherited from the previous Conservative government.
Over the coming weeks, the government will set out a number of key policies to show the party is taking decisive action in areas such as defence, housing and migration, the prime minister's political spokesman said.
($1 = 0.7469 pounds)
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Sarah Young)
No, the British government will not reverse cuts to winter fuel or welfare payments, according to a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The cuts were deemed necessary by finance minister Rachel Reeves due to the financial state inherited from the previous Conservative government.
The Labour Party faced a poor performance in the elections, which party politicians attributed in part to public dissatisfaction with the government's cuts to fuel and disability payments.
In the coming weeks, the government plans to outline key policies focusing on areas such as defence, housing, and migration.
Last year, the government cut universal winter fuel payments worth up to 300 pounds for millions of pensioners unless they were eligible for government support.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
