Sunak accuses Starmer of putting ‘highly-paid’ train drivers before vulnerable pensioners

Sunak accuses Starmer of putting train drivers before vulnerable pensionersSource: Reuters

Transcript

00:00The Government are about making choices, and the new Prime Minister has made a choice.

00:05He has chosen to take the winter fuel allowance away from low-income pensioners and give that

00:11money to certain unionised workforces in inflation-busting pay rises. Why did the Prime Minister choose

00:19train drivers over Britain's vulnerable pensioners?

00:26This Government were elected to clear up the mess left by the party office and to bring

00:32about the change that the country desperately needs. Our first job was to audit the books,

00:38and what we found was a £22 billion black hole. It is no good them complaining. Richard

00:47Hughes, the chair of the OBR, was very clear. He described it as one of the largest year

00:52overspends against forecasts outside of the pandemic—his words. So we have had to take

00:58tough decisions to stabilise the economy and repair the damage, including targeting winter

01:04fuel payments while protecting pensioners. Eight hundred thousand pensioners are not

01:09taking up pension credit. We intend to turn that around. We are going to align housing

01:14benefit and pension credit, something the previous Government deferred year after year

01:19after year. And because of our commitment to the triple lock,

01:22pensions are projected to increase by over £1,000 in the next five years.