Sir Keir Starmer refused to apologise to pensioners about the winter fuel allowance when given the opportunity four different times in an interview on Good Morning Britain.
Susanna Reid grilled the Prime Minister about the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance – an allowance which has drawn ire for worse-off pensioners.
Starmer cited the ‘£22 billion black hole’ he inherited from the previous Conservative government.
When asked if he would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to pensioners who are facing difficult decisions this winter, he said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.
‘The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22 billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.’
Starmer repeatedly said the government had to stabilise the economy, something which they are ‘determined’ to do in order to commit to the triple lock.
He explained: ‘If we stabilise the economy, which we’re determined to do, that means that we can absolutely commit to the triple lock, which means that for pensioners this year an extra £900, next year an extra £460, because I want to make sure that every pensioner is better off under Labour.
‘At the same time, as you’d expect, we’re trying to get as many pensioners as possible onto pension credit, which means the winter fuel payments is covered. And of course, they get the pension credit, which is really important. But the reason we had to do this is because of the black hole left by the previous government.’
He added: ‘If there’s one thing which, in my view, has hit pensioners harder than anything in the last few years, is when inflation went through the roof, because the last government lost control of the economy.
‘I’m not going to let that happen to pensioners ever again.’
The government’s Winter Fuel Payment is designed to help eligible people keep warm and pay their heating bills and is in addition to any or other benefits.
Starmer’s move to means test the winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, is believed to affect up to 10 million pensioners, with the government facing warnings that some could end up in hospital as a result of the change.
But Labour says it is necessary to fill a financial ‘black hole’, saving £1.4 billion this year alone.
Starmer speaks about freebies
Starmer also said he accepted £20,000 in donations for accommodation because his son needed somewhere to revise for his GCSEs while his family home was besieged by journalists during the election campaign.
The Prime Minister defended his decision to take gifts from Labour peer Lord Alli amid criticism of the arrangement, saying he was ‘not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong’ and the freebies did not ‘cost the taxpayer a penny’.
But Sir Keir signalled he could continue to accept hospitality from donors, saying that it was a matter of ‘judgement’ for individual MPs whether they receive certain kinds of donations.
In a series of broadcast interviews following his speech to the Labour Party annual conference, he also said the transition to Downing Street had been ‘really difficult’ for his two children, who were previously raised in North London.
Asked about the donations, Sir Keir said that around £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a ‘peaceful’ atmosphere while the then-Labour leader was overwhelmed with media attention in the run-up to the election.
‘My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine. But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
‘Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.’
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: ‘I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.’
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