British government resumes the payment of heating subsidies for millions of pensioners / eliminating the aid seriously affected the electoral score of the labists
The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Keir Starmer: Ian Vogler / AFP / Profimedia
The elimination of heating subsidies was one of the factors that contributed to the decrease of the Labor Party in surveys and to the very good result of the right -wing UK, in the recent local elections, writes Reuters.
London has announced that he will again give help for heating this winter for millions of old people, a major policy change, after months of pressures on Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer's laburistic government has eliminated subsidies for pensioners, except for the poorest, as part of wider reductions in public spending, which it considered necessary to repair the deficit left by the previous conservative administration.
About 85% of the households who received the payments lost the subsidy, according to the Think Tank Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The change of direction announced on Monday will restore these payments for 9 million pensioners.
Only two million pensioners, with higher incomes, will be exempted from the subsidy of 200-300 pounds for heating invoices in the cold months.
Pressures from outside and inside the party
Starmer and Finance Minister Rachel Reeves faced the opposition of dozens of Labor MPs after the initial discounts.
The elimination of the heating subsidies was cited as one of the factors that contributed to the decrease of the Labor Party in polls and to the very good result of the right -wing UK, the recent local elections.
Reform UK also drives opinion polls at national level.
Reeves said that the exclusion of wealthy pensioners from the payment of the subsidy is correct and that the “difficult decisions” of last year were justified.
“Due to these decisions, our public finances are now in a better position, which means that this year we can pay the help for heating during the winter of a larger number of pensioners,” she said.
Farage claim a victory
Direction change will cost the Government 1.25 billion pounds, and checking the payment will save about 450 million pounds.
The measure will not lead to permanent additional loans, the details on financing to be established in a budget that will be presented later this year, the treasury said.
During a press conference in Wales, Farage said that this change of direction shows that the policy of the Labor Party is influenced by its campaign.
“The Labor government is in a state of absolute panic, he does not know very well what to do,” he said. “The Reform Party now influences much of their agenda,” he said.
Starmer pointed out last month that he would reinstate the subsidies.
