I'm listening to winter fuel concerns, says Reeves

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will listen to concerns over the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

More than nine million pensioners lost out on payments worth up to £300 after the chancellor restricted eligibility for the pension top-up last year.

Some Labour MPs have blamed the policy for the party's losses at last month's local elections, and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

It comes after media reports suggested ministers were thinking about softening the impact of the cuts later this year.

The i newspaper has reported the government is considering whether to increase the £11,500 income threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance.

When asked if she was looking at making this change, Reeves told the BBC's Newscast podcast the government faced a "tough inheritance" and took some "tough decisions" to stabilise the public finances after winning last year's general election.

But she added: "I do understand the concerns that people have."

She said she would "continue to listen to understand the concerns that people have raised".

"We are a government that listens," the chancellor said.

"But we would always need to show where the money is going to come from if we're going to make any policy changes. That would be part of the normal process."

The chancellor said "everything always has to be affordable, because this government will live within its means".

She said Labour had "drawn a line under the economic mismanagement of the previous government", adding there was "much more to do to improve living standards for working people".

Her comments mark a change in tone since Reeves urged Labour MPs to back her plan to cut winter fuel payments in September last year.

At a meeting of Labour MPs that month, Reeves told Labour backbenchers: "It is the right thing to do, to target money at a time when finances are so stretched, at people who need them most."

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman told reporters there "will not be a change to the government's policy" on the winter fuel payment, despite growing calls within Labour ranks for a rethink.

Some MPs raised questions about the payment as they grilled Sir Keir at a meeting in Parliament on Monday.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of that meeting, Labour MP Stella Creasy said it would be "remiss" of the government to dismiss concerns over the winter fuel payment.

"Those concerns are being heard across the party," Creasy said.

"Those of us who have been around a long time and among new MPs, there's a genuine concern to get this right and that's now what the government needs to respond to."

The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over-80s, paid in November or December.

Last year, the government restricted the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save £1.4bn.

The move did not feature in Labour's general election manifesto.

It was seen as a key issue at this month's local elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending.

The winter fuel payment was introduced in 1997 by New Labour as a universal payment for all pensioners.

It was billed as a way to guarantee they would be able to pay for increased heating costs over the winter - although in practice it is a pension top-up, which recipients can spend on whatever they want.

This year state pensions are going up by 4.1% - a rise of £363 a year for those on the basic pension, or £472 for those on the new pension.