About 10 million elderly people will lose winter heating subsidies! Instead, they will receive a £10 Christmas bonus?
- TBA
- Dec 27, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 13
Many pensioners recently received the £10 Christmas bonus from the government. However, the distribution of this bonus hasn’t been met with joy, because in winter, people face another important expense—heating.
Recently, the UK House of Commons voted to reject a proposal to prevent cuts to the winter heating subsidy, with a result of 348 votes against 228. This means that about 10 million pensioners in the UK will not receive heating subsidies this winter.
The £10 Christmas bonus, in comparison, is virtually meaningless in the face of heating costs, and over a million elderly people will fall into poverty because they can’t afford to heat their homes.
Why reduce the winter fuel subsidy?
The reason is simple—it’s to fill the UK government’s budget deficit.
How severe is the UK’s financial deficit? According to foreign media reports, UK prisons are overcrowded, but the government can’t even afford to build new ones. This shows just how bankrupt the UK government is.
By July of this year, the UK government’s public debt had reached about £2.7 trillion, approximately 99.4% of the country’s GDP. This means the government needs to pay nearly £100 billion in interest each year, which is roughly 10% of government spending, just to cover the debt hole.
Many local governments in the UK are in even worse financial shape. Since 2020, several cities in the UK, including Birmingham and Nottingham, have declared bankruptcy.
With such dire finances, Labour’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has proposed a fiscal cut plan, which includes cutting £5.5 billion in spending this year and £8 billion next year.
The £300 winter heating subsidy for the elderly is part of the £5.5 billion in cuts for this year.
Are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party fighting again?
In the vote against cutting the winter heating subsidy, the proposal was ultimately rejected with 348 votes against 228.
However, in the UK House of Commons, the Labour Party holds 410 seats. Apart from one member who voted against the Labour government’s proposal, over 50 other members didn’t vote. This indicates that within the Labour Party, there is some disagreement over the policy to reduce heating subsidies.
Conservative Party leader and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mocked, ‘They are shouting loudly now. But these arguments couldn’t even convince his own 50+ members, who suddenly found they had urgent matters elsewhere’. Starmer quickly fired back: ‘Before he complains about us cleaning up his mess, perhaps he should apologize for the £22 billion black hole. Mr. Sunak pretends everything is fine. This is the argument he made during the election, and it’s why he’s sitting there [in opposition] while we’re here [in government]’.
This was a sharp exchange, essentially saying: Labour argues that they had to reduce subsidies to clean up the financial mess left by the Conservative Party, and since the Conservative policies were ineffective, it’s Labour who became the governing party. Therefore, the Conservative Party has no right to criticize the fiscal measures taken by Labour, as Labour sees the Conservatives as the root cause of the current problems.
Many families will face a tough winter
Winter in the UK can be quite cold! Reducing winter heating subsidies for pensioners means that many elderly people will have a particularly hard time this winter.
Surveys show that 55% of retirees are considering reducing heating, and two-thirds say they will take additional energy-saving measures.
In 2022, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated, energy prices continued to rise. The UK government implemented a plan to cap energy price increases at 10% per year. In the winter of 2021, the maximum annual energy price for an average household was capped at £1,100, but this winter it will rise to £1,717. It is estimated that at least 27 million households in the UK will continue to see their energy bills rise.
During the 2022 energy crisis, many places opened ‘heat banks’ in libraries, community centres, and other locations, where people without money to heat their homes could stay warm for free. It is expected that this year the number of ‘heat banks’ will increase, especially for elderly people who cannot afford heating costs.
This makes people feel frustrated about the £10 Christmas bonus, as they might be too cold at home to enjoy Christmas.
More importantly—
The £10 Christmas bonus was introduced in 1972 by the Heath government during a period of high inflation, to help pensioners have a good Christmas.
Half a century has passed, but the Christmas bonus has remained at £10. If adjusted for inflation, that £10 would be equivalent to £168 today!
Many people have suggested that the Labour government should reassess the level of the Christmas bonus, as at today’s prices, £10 can barely buy two large hamburgers.
Can this really help people enjoy Christmas?
