84% OF DISABLED PENSIONERS WILL LOSE WINTER PAYMENT

Shock survey reveals vulnerable victims of Labour's heartless heating cut

- Katie Harris

LABOUR'S winter fuel payment cuts will see 84% of pensioners with a long-term health condition or disability lose out, a poll shows.

The findings are described as a "shocking indictment" of and the plan - with fresh calls for the Government to perform a U-turn ahead of the Budget.

Shadow Work Pensions Secretary Mel Stride, inset, said: "When they announced this policy, Labour claimed they would protect those most in need. This polling is yet more evidence that those claims were totally empty. The vast majority of poor and disabled pensioners will lose this vital support.

"The Government must take the opportunity at the Budget to urgently reverse course."

The survey for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition also found 81% of older people who are already worried about cold and damp in their homes say they will no longer get the winter fuel payment.

And it showed that one in five pensioners with long-term health conditions or disabilities who will not receive the lifeline are worried about their safety.

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: "The data is yet another warning sign to ministers.

"The indications are that older people who no longer get the winter fuel payment are more likely to suffer in cold damp homes this winter than the general public.

"For those pensioners with a physical disability, the situation is potentially even worse.