Banbury Conservative councillor calls for all parties to unite in opposition to the winter fuel allowance cut

Cllr Eddie Reeves, now the Conservative leader on Cherwell District Council, is producing a motion at this evening’s (Monday) council meeting deploring the cut to the £200 – £300 winter fuel payment (WFP) for pensioners.

The Government says it needs to make the cut to help fill a £20bn ‘black hole’ in the country’s finances which they say is inherited from Rishi Sunak’s Tory administration.

Mr Reeves (Banbury Calthorpe) says in his motion that Age UK estimates the government’s changes to WFPs could adversely affect as many as two million pensioners across the country, many of whom need support to stay warm this winter. In the Banbury constituency alone, 17,638 pensioners are set to be affected by the decision, he says.

The motion calls on councillors of the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Independents – and any Labour rebels – to agree officially to deplore the cuts ahead of the Government’s budget on October 30.

He asks the council to resolve to request that:

(i) the (Cherwell) Executive launch a countywide awareness campaign working with our fellow City and District Councils, Oxfordshire County Council, local NHS partners, and charitable, civic and religious groups, to encourage elderly residents who are eligible for means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit to register and claim them to ensure that they continue to receive WFPs this Winter;

(ii) the Leader of the Council writes to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, urging a review of the government’s decision to means-test WFPs without public consultation and asking HM Treasury to ensure that vulnerable pensioners, particularly those who are eligible for, but who do not – or cannot – claim, other benefits under current thresholds are protected from fuel poverty in her forthcoming budget; and

(iii) the Executive builds on the Council’s notable successes in tackling food insecurity and providing community food grants by prioritising monies within its current and/or the 2025/6 budget to ensure that pensioners who are in genuine hardship, but who are not otherwise eligible for other government support, are helped through the Winter.”