MSPs have voted for Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reverse her cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment for the elderly. Scottish Labour refused to back the demand for a u-turn amid growing pressure on party leader Anas Sarwar.
But Sarwar faced a mini-rebellion from some of his own MSPs.
First Minister John Swinney led the call for a rethink during an intense Holyrood debate to mark Challenge Poverty Week.
Reeves caused anger after she announced a universal WFP would be replaced with a means-tested system. Millions of older people across the UK will lose up to £300 and up to 900,000 Scots will be hit.
The SNP, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens teamed up at Holyrood to demand an end to Labour‘s means-testing plan.
MSPs voted 99-14 for the Swinney motion.
Swinney told MSPs: “The cut to Winter Fuel Payments and the increase in energy costs is a double whammy for people in Scotland and especially for many of the older and more vulnerable individuals in our country.”
He added: “Reversing this decision on the Winter Fuel Payment will be a vital step in ensuring our citizens can afford to live in warm homes – but there are of course many other reforms we need to see from the new UK Government.
He continued: “I call on all Members of Parliament to unite in a clear statement to the United Kingdom Government that the decision to end universal eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments should be reversed and the resources should be available to this Parliament to ensure this vital support is available to all of those who are currently eligible in Scotland.”
Labour tabled their own amendment which called on the SNP Government to use £41m of Westminster funding to help the elderly, but MSPs voted it down.
Sarwar said the UK Government “did now want” to cut the WFP but were forced into tough decisions by the economic carnage left behind by the Tories. He also said he believed the means-tested system announced by Reeves is too tight.
STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said: “It’s becoming clear that the plight of freezing pensioners is becoming a distasteful political football. Our vulnerable and most in need deserve more than two governments playing politics with people’s livelihoods.
“Unquestionably, the blame lies squarely at the door of the Prime Minister. He cannot credibly ride to power on the promise of change but deliver cuts. It’s a cack-handed, shortsighted decision that will plunge those struggling to get by into fuel poverty just as energy prices rise again. The Scottish Government could do more to protect the vulnerable with their limited resources but the UK Government must own this mess of their own making. This decision must be reversed.”
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