Wes Streeting is no stranger to tying himself in knots during interviews. However, at the Labour conference he showed how little empathy he really has for pensioners. He effectively condoned his government trying to freeze them to death via the winter fuel payments cut:
“What’s your advice to pensioners who are frightened about the forthcoming winter?”
Health secretary Wes Streeting is pressed about the government’s plan to make cuts to the winter fuel allowance.#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/DGal9XA9k8
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 23, 2024
Wes weaseling out over winter fuel payments
In a classic ‘Wes weaseling out of giving any sort of answer’ moment, he gave some scripted guff about the triple lock, and how pensioners will still be better off over successive winters.
Victoria Derbyshire wouldn’t let Streeting’s slippery classic politician’s redirection gymnastics slide however. She called him out saying “that’s not advice”.
After a painful period of Streeting rehashing this overused party line, there was still no advice. Because the fact is, Streeting and Starmer’s cabinet of cruel capitalist minions couldn’t give a shit what happens to pensioners THIS winter:
Not a single piece of advice from @wesstreeting or any empathy with the pensioners who will struggle to heat their homes this winter #WinterFuelPayments https://t.co/fn4LLvytMc
— Mark Inskip 🔶 (@MA_Inskip) September 23, 2024
Victoria Derbyshire also highlighted that Streeting’s argument was deceptive for two further reasons.
One was that the majority of pensioners don’t get the New State Pension anyway – so won’t benefit from the triple lock. She then put Streeting in his place over the saving from slashing the winter fuel payment to millions of pensioners. Specifically, she highlighted that the £1.4bn was a drop in the ocean of the government’s overall £1tn budget.
Yesterday, Streeting also defended rich people giving MP’s freebies. He stated:
I’m really proud of people who want to contribute…their money to our politics. It is a noble pursuit, just like giving to charity.
Streeting went onto say that if rich people and businesses DIDN’T give money to politicians, then the taxpayer would have to foot the bills. It’s a shame they don’t realise they can actually spend their own £91k a year pay check.
Streeting chaos, not change
Only yesterday, the party blocked a debate on the cuts to the winter fuel payments at this years Labour conference. Currently, they have delayed the vote until Wednesday. However, by this point most of the delegates, including PM Keir Starmer – will have already left.
The Labour Party’s cut to winter fuel payments has already caused chaos. As the Canary has been documenting, Charity Age UK calculated that Labour’s move will impact 800,000 older people on very low incomes. Specifically, this is those living on less than £218.25 a week as single pensioners, or £332.95 as couples.
And despite the government’s drive to increase uptake in Pension Credit – the benefit that automatically entitles pensioners to the winter fuel payments – the majority will still miss out this winter.
According to a new equality analysis done by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) back in July, the cuts will hit disabled people especially hard.
It also found:
83% (2.7m) of those aged 80+ currently receiving winter fuel payments will lose out, compared to 90% (7.3m) of those aged 66 to 79.
Additionally, Age UK estimate that around a million more pensioners less than £50 above the so-called poverty line will be “hit hard”. Meanwhile, in 2017 Labour itself did an impact assessment. This found around 4,000 older people could die as a result of means testing the winter fuel payment.
Wes Streeting:
pensioners are going to have to ‘put their shoulder to the wheel’#WinterFuelPayments #Newsnight #Lab24 pic.twitter.com/cWgNJqHsGv— Marwood (@AndMarwood) September 23, 2024
So as always, they are going to hit women and disabled people the hardest.
Tories in red ties
Wes Streeting – along with many other Labour MP’s are showing the same lack of empathy that we saw from the Tories for 14 years:
If someone watching this didn’t know who Wes Streeting was, they’d be certain he was a Tory.
— A.M.MacJ (@ammacj) September 23, 2024
#Streeting is everything you loathe and despise about a Tory politician, magnified 100 times, because of the added hypocrisy, spite and patronising arrogance whilst under the guise of being “Labour” #LabourConference2024 #Newsnight https://t.co/7C5Z0OOrzK
— Mountain (@sharpeleven) September 23, 2024
Labour politicians are receiving thousands in luxury gifts. Meanwhile, they are making pensioners suffer – and it’s only set to get worse:
Terrible. Inexcusable. 👇
These people are getting personal luxury gifts worth thousands of pounds whilst claiming that pensioners on £13k per year have enough money to clothe, feed and heat themselves. Cruel, disgusting. https://t.co/mOELqutvzf
— Yanis (@yanis_2005) September 24, 2024
And it doesn’t even look like a difficult choice for him:
Wes Streeting has no advice.
Let’s be right, this doesn’t even look like a ‘tough choice’ for him does it ↓
He could not care less.#Newsnight https://t.co/ZRWU0fRUiz
— JD Black🥀 (@_JD_Black) September 23, 2024
Pensioners will be better off next winter.
Assuming they survive this one @wesstreeting? https://t.co/DhezINTGey
— Louie (@SewingandThings) September 23, 2024
Streeting’s rigid, disingenuous response showed the cold, cruel, barely beating heart of this Labour government at large.
His inhuman complete and utter lack of empathy is Starmer’s Labour in a nutshell – wildly out of touch with living realities for marginalised communities across the UK. This is perfectly in step with the whims and interests of its wealthy band of corporate donors and backers.
But hey: at least he’s thinking of the NHS savings when he’s frozen all the pensioners to death.
Feature image via Sky News/Youtube
