Labour 'has abandoned its conscience' over winter fuel payments as cold snap bites says DUP MP
A DUP MP has accused Labour of "erasing its conscience" over its curbing of the winter fuel allowance, amid widespread concerns for the elderly due to the current cold snap.
Jim Shannon, the party's spokesman on health in Westminster, said the allowance would have let thousands of pensioners "just get over this cold spell," but instead it has been taken away by "the party of conscience".
It comes a day after the charity Age NI told the News Letter it was "deeply concerned" about the fuel allowance situation as the current frosty weather began to bite.
Temperatures dipped into freezing overnight from Thursday to Friday, and the same was also expected from Friday into Saturday in the south, mid, and west of the Province, with temperatures forecast to dip to -2C overnight.
A yellow weather warning for ice is in force for the northern half of the Province until 10am on Saturday.
Meanwhile there is the potential for some snow on Sunday said the Met Office, with freezing temperatures expected in the south, mid, and west of Northern Ireland overnight from Sunday into Monday.
This is “definitely a weekend to turn the heating on”, UK health secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast on Friday, after he was quizzed about pensioners losing access to the winter fuel payment.
The winter fuel payment (or winter fuel allowance) is worth between £200 and £300 per household.
Previously it was available to anyone living in their own home who had reached state pension age.
But after Labour took power, the party changed the rules so only those people getting Pension Credit or certain other means-tested benefits would qualify.
Though the announcement applied to England and Wales, NI communities minister Gordon Lyons said in August that there were “no additional resource available in the budget to allow us to diverge from the UK government decision without significantly cutting other public services", so Northern Ireland was forced to follow suit.
However, in November he announced "a one-off fuel support payment of £100 to pensioners no longer eligible for the winter fuel payment" (payable automatically to pensioners through the channel by which they normally receive their benefits - no application necessary).
Mr Shannon told the News Letter: "When it comes to pensioners, the Labour Party – the party that's supposed to be the weak, the vulnerable, the disabled and the elderly - has let them down, big style.
"This is an attack on the vulnerable and there are repercussions."
The repercussions, he said, come in the form of higher attendance at hospitals by those who have lost out on the allowance, at a time when the NHS is already under serious winter pressure (see page 6).
"This government has to consider if they are comfortable with blame when it comes to some of those who are today suffering so badly," said Mr Shannon.
"The Labour Party, the 'party of conscience', have erased their conscience. That's a thing that really bothers me. They've got it wrong, and people are suffering as a result.
"People say 'sure I'll put an extra coat on or I'll put an extra blanket on the bed' - but you need the heat on! You need a fire or the gas, electric or oil, and that costs money.
"The government have penalised people who are more vulnerable than anybody else. They should have left it well enough alone. It would have just got them over this cold spell and hard times."
Communities minister Gordon Lyons and health minister Mike Nesbitt issued a joint statement on Friday calling on people to “keep warm, keep well”.
In it, Mr Lyons encouraged people to make contact with a service called Make The Call, which helps people claim all the benefits to which they are entitled – including Pension Credit, which would in turn make someone eligible for winter fuel payments (Make the Call can be reached on 0800 232 1271).
Meanwhile Dr Anna Cullen, public health doctor at the Public Health Authority, advised people to heat your main living room to around 18-21ºC (64-70ºF) and the rest of the house to at least 16ºC (61ºF), and to never use an electric blanket and hot water bottle together as there is a risk you could electrocute yourself.