Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves face pensioner backlash over winter fuel payment cuts

On Sunday, the rumours started flying around Westminster. After the beating they took in the local elections, would Labour U-turn on their winter fuel payment cuts? Slashing the winter fuel payment was wrong when they did it, and it's still wrong now.

For 48 hours it sounded like Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were having a rethink. A reminder that they came into Government without a plan and they are still scrabbling around for one.

Not that voters are going to forgive them for their winter fuel payment cut in a hurry. For making millions of pensions go through winter without the help they badly need with heating bills - at the same time as the Government broke their promise on bringing those bills down.

To govern is to choose and this Government has already made some bad choices.

We were clear that we would not have gone ahead with this cruel cut, which left hundreds of thousands of pensioners choosing between heating and eating this winter.

There is a basic cruelty at the heart of this policy, which removes a key safety net for some of the country's most vulnerable. We know, as does the Government, that many pensioners don't like to ask for help. However, many badly needed that extra money for heating.

Either Labour are completely incompetent, or they are more out of touch than anyone ever realised. We have tried to work with them in the national interest to undo some of the damage they are causing, but they have resisted our calls every time.

For instance, they blocked our push to publish data showing the full impact of this policy-which, by their own admission, could drive 200,000 pensioners into poverty.

We made mistakes in government, but we are under new leadership. We are in the long process of regaining your trust, and part of that is recognising our mistakes.

Keir Starmer needs to learn this lesson before the next cold winter sets in and more pensioners suffer because of him.