Reeves ignores desperate pleas to row back on cuts to pensioners' winter fuel cash

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves has ignored pleas to reverse her cuts to winter fuel payments amid warnings that five in six pensioners living in poverty will lose out.

- Sam Lister

She claimed older people were £900 "better off" than a year ago as she tried to defend plans to strip them of up to £300 this winter.

During a Commons mauling, she was told she had made a "chilling political choice to balance the books of this country on the very frailest shoulders".

Meanwhile analysis by a former pensions minister showed 1.6 million older people who are below the poverty line will not qualify for fuel payments this winter.

Targeted

Sir Steve Webb, a partner at pension consultants LCP, said: "There is a range of ways in which the Government could target spending on winter fuel payments but our analysis shows that limiting payments only to those on pension credit will leave the vast majority of pensioners below the poverty line losing out.