Protests took place in Portsmouth on Friday, November 29, 2024, in opposition to the government's cuts to winter fuel payments.
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00:00My name's Alan Burgess, and I'm with Portsmouth Unite Community.
00:05Tell me why we are protesting today.
00:07We're protesting because we are hit with a double whammy
00:11from the Labour government on top of 14 years of Tory austerity.
00:17And it's really unacceptable.
00:19The winter fuel allowance has been taken away
00:22and we've got price increases from Ofgem.
00:28Price increases and losing our winter fuel allowance is just unacceptable
00:33and we have to stop that. That's why we're protesting.
00:36So tell me what actions you'd like the government to take.
00:41We want to restore the winter fuel allowance
00:44and nationalise energy companies
00:48so that they don't profit out of old people's misery.
00:53So do you think that the winter fuel payments should be means tested at a higher rate?
00:58That's an interesting question, at a higher rate.
01:00I certainly think the winter fuel allowance could be at a higher rate
01:03but it is vital that it's maintained as universal
01:07because what we've seen in the latest figures of pension credit uptake
01:12is it's actually only catching about 5% of an increase
01:17and over 100% of people have applied for pension credit.
01:24So tell me what alternatives do you think the government can take?
01:28I think what we are doing is a defensive campaign.
01:31We want the winter fuel allowance to be retained
01:36and we want energy prices to stop going up
01:41and by that we want energy companies to be nationalised.