Labour Silent protest from abstaining MPs gives little comfort to government

In the end, the vote to cut the winter fuel allowance passed easily.

- Pippa Crerar

Hundreds of loyalist Labour MPs tramped through the lobbies to back the government's controversial plan. No 10 will hope the heat has gone out of the issue.

But despite dodging a major rebellion, plenty in government were not taking much comfort from the result. Scores of MPs abstained in silent protest, fearful that they could be condemning vulnerable pensioners to a cold, hard winter.

Government sources argued that only a dozen of the 52 Labour MPs who were absent for the vote had not been authorised in advance. The others had legitimate reasons including medical appointments and official travel.

But what they did not acknowledge was that many of those who had permission to abstain were bitterly opposed to the cut. In the days running up to the vote, whips had been encouraging them to find urgent constituency business so they could legitimately be absent.

Inside government, advisers told each other that things could have been much worse. The first rebellion of Tony Blair's government, they said, was significantly larger, with 47 backbenchers opposing his plans to cut benefits to single parents and 100 more abstaining.