Conservative leader Rishi Sunak asked the Prime Minister if cutting winter fuel payments to pensioners would lead to more than 3,800 deaths as he accused Sir Keir Starmer of “hiding” the policy’s impact assessment.Referring to the Government benches, Mr Sunak said: “They’re shouting now, those arguments didn’t even convince 50 of his own MPs, who suddenly found that they had urgent business elsewhere yesterday.“But we know why he’s hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So, are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?”Sir Keir Starmer replied: “We’re taking this decision to stabilise the economy, that means we can commit to the triple lock, by committing to the triple lock we can make sure that payments of state pension are higher, and therefore there’s more money in the pocket of pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action that we need to take.“But (Mr Sunak) goes around pretending that everything’s fine. That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”
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00:00Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, this has got, Mr. Speaker.
00:09I want to hear the question.
00:12Mr. Speaker, when I was in government, I delivered record increases in the state pension. We
00:18protected the winter fuel payment and we gave pensioners cost of living benefits. He's the
00:23one that's taking money away from pensioners on £13,000, Mr. Speaker. But this has got
00:28nothing to do with the public finances. His own chancellor, his own chancellor just this
00:35morning, his MPs may not have been listening to her, his own chancellor this morning admitted
00:40that she would prefer it if this policy didn't even raise any money, Mr. Speaker. Obviously,
00:46the government would not have made this decision without an impact analysis. And yesterday,
00:50the energy minister confirmed that. So I ask very simply again, why won't he publish the
00:56assessment now?
00:57Mr. Speaker, I remember the days when the Conservative Party was concerned about balancing
01:05the books. They've left a £22 billion black hole. Responsibility for this decision lies
01:13there. The only way to rebuild our country and invest in our public services and make
01:18sure everyone is better off is if we clear up their mess and deal with the £22 billion
01:24black hole. But, Mr. Speaker, last week we learned that the shadow housing secretary
01:29was calling for means testing of winter fuel payments. Now it turns out, now it turns out
01:35that the shadow paymaster general agrees with her and even boasted about texting his own
01:40mother saying she didn't need the payment. Until he apologises for the mess they've created,
01:45he's no position to criticise the action that we're taking.
01:49Mr. Speaker, they're shouting now, but those arguments didn't even convince 50 of his own
01:56MPs who suddenly found that they had urgent business elsewhere yesterday, Mr. Speaker.
02:03But we know why he's hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party's own previous analysis claimed
02:09that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So are the numbers in his impact assessment
02:16higher or lower than that?
02:19Mr. Speaker, we're taking this decision to stabilise the economy. That means we can commit
02:26to the triple lock. By committing to the triple lock, we can make sure that payments of state
02:31pension are higher and therefore there's more money in the pocket of pensioners, notwithstanding
02:37the tough action that we need to take. But he goes around pretending that everything's
02:42fine. That's the argument he tried in the election. And that's why he's sitting there
02:47and we are sitting here.
02:49Mr. Speaker, today, pensioners watching will have seen that the Prime Minister has repeatedly
02:56refused to admit or to publish the consequences of his decision. And we will continue holding
03:03him account for that.