Keir Starmer brands donor flat claims 'farcical'
Keir Starmer brands donor flat claims 'farcical'
The PM is facing questions around his use of Labour peer Lord Alli's flat for filming during the pandemic.
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He thinks pensioners living on 12k a year should lose their winter fuel payments, but a donation valued at double that is no big deal?
No one else receives winter payment coverage. Pensions are already covered by Triple Lock, so over time they always go up quicker than inflation (which includes heating costs). Triple Lock was always a bribe because older people vote and in numbers and successive governments pandered to them. Winter fuel payment had a need and they probably should have tempered it off, but support for older less well off individuals people should be via state pension if it doesn't meet their needs.
Regular top up bribes just creates a messy, complex system that politicians dare not touch.
Back on to Keir, he's coming out of this looking quite dodgy and many on the left have been making this point for years. However, using Tory attack lines doesn't help as they contributed to most people getting screwed when energy prices shot up (mothballing gas storage, hammering feed in tariffs etc.)
No one else receives winter payment coverage.
Not true, many disabled people do.
Well fair point there, and rightly so. There is certainly a need for this. Whether that justifies keeping permanent a temporary policy or it needs to be thought out so benefits/pip etc. meet the needs of vulnerable individuals at all times of the year is another question.
Almost like they're completely different things.