Anas Sarwar brands Labour Winter Fuel Payment cut not 'fair' as temperatures to fall to -7C

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Anas Sarwar has branded the Labour Chancellor’s decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment as not “fair” as temperatures plummet in Scotland.

He stepped up his criticism to link the cash to a benefit enjoyed by a small minority of pensioners but also blamed the SNP Government for not devising a fairer system.

Reeves has been under fire for means-testing a payment worth up to £300 for older people to help plug a funding black hole.

Around 900,000 Scots pensioners will lose out as a result.

With a forecaster predicting temperatures will drop to minus seven in one part of Scotland, campaigners fear older Scots will not be able to afford to heat their homes.

Speaking to LBC, the Scottish Labour leader said: “I have always been clear that I think the threshold for the Winter Fuel Allowance is too low at Pension Credit."

He said the benefit was supposed to be devolved to Holyrood but the Government handed back the power for a year:

“It is why throughout this time I have proposed a different approach for us here in Scotland, given this year it’s supposed to be a devolved benefit.”

He added: “We could have chosen to do things differently here in Scotland this year with it being a devolved benefit and that’s what I will continue to advocate, because I don’t think Pension Credit is a fair threshold. I think there are people above that threshold who require support."Labour activists say the WFP cut is being raised on the doorsteps and was partly to blame for local by-election defeats in Edinburgh and Dundee.

As revealed by the Record, First Minister John Swinney is actively considering using his December Budget to bring back a universal WFP next year.

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An SNP source said his party would then argue Labour MPs had voted to means-test the benefit while Labour MSPs had opposed reinstating it on a universal basis.

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