DWP Winter Fuel Payments call for return for all pensioners

Rachel Reeves could become known as “the Chancellor who was brave enough to change course”, a senior Conservative whip has said, suggesting the payment should return.

Standing opposite Commons Leader Lucy Powell in Parliament, Joy Morrissey questioned Ms Reeves’ decision to “U-turn on non-doms” but not make alterations to budget decisions affecting pensioners and farmers.

Ms Powell defended the Government’s record on Thursday and described “another week of delivering the change that people voted for”, the day after Ms Reeves made a speech about economic growth at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire.

Earlier in January, the Chancellor said in Davos that she would soften the proposed tax regime for people who live in the UK but are otherwise based elsewhere.

It means the temporary repatriation facility, a three-year window where non-doms can pay a discounted rate on foreign income and gains, will be “more generous” than planned.

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Ms Morrissey told the Common: “As each week passes, our constituents face more and more negative consequences from the Chancellor’s disastrous budget.

“Last week, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) revealed a staggering 47,000 drop in employment in December.

“This is the sharpest fall in employment since the pandemic.”

The Conservative deputy chief whip later continued: “I know the Chancellor is proud of being the first female Chancellor, but wouldn’t it be even better if she was known as the Chancellor who was brave enough to change course?”

She said: “Now, we have seen a glimmer of hope on the Chancellor’s U-turn on non-doms, which has caused some of the UK’s biggest taxpayers to flee her socialist nightmare. It is a welcome U-turn.

“But I feel for the Leader of the House and the members opposite.

“I can’t imagine they ever thought they would be explaining why a Labour Government has U-turned on punishing non-doms but not on punishing pensioners.”

Ms Morrissey urged the Government to “be bold” and reinstate universal winter fuel payments after the programme was slimmed down to only include claimants of certain means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit.

She also said the Treasury should “spare family farms who have put food on our table from her tax raid”, after Ms Reeves announced plans to bring farms worth more than £1 million into inheritance tax from April next year.

In her response, Ms Powell told the Commons: “(Ms Morrissey) does raise issues around the economy but I would just gently remind her of a few of the stats in that regard – inflation is down now thanks to this Government, wages are growing at their fastest rate in three years, we’ve created more than 70,000 new jobs since we came into office, and business investment is at its highest levels for 19 years.”

The Commons Leader said the Border, Security and Immigration Bill is due for debate on February 10, which she said would take “real action to tackle small boats and smuggling gangs”.

Turning to the Chancellor’s speech, Ms Powell said the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor with bolstered transport links and a new town at Tempsford in Bedfordshire would become “the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley”.

She added that “as a (Manchester) City fan, I can even welcome” support for redevelopment in the Old Trafford area of Manchester, and said Doncaster Airport in Yorkshire would become “thriving once again”.

On changes to the temporary repatriation facility for non-doms, Ms Reeves said at the World Economic Forum: “We have been listening to the concerns that have been raised by the non-dom community.”