UK weather to turn colder on same day MPs vote on cut to winter fuel payment

The weather outside will be ramping up the pressure as MPs vote on cutting back help with heating costs for pensioners.

Freezing air from Greenland is predicted to make things feel much cooler from today, with tomorrow especially cold as the temperature drops in an Arctic chill.

It brings home the potential impact of restricting the Winter Fuel Payment to only the poorest pensioners, with many people needing to switch on their central heating for the first time in months.

Parliament is set for a showdown, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisting his rank and file back the plan to save £1.4bn this year alone, even as Unite chief Sharon Graham accused him of ‘picking the pockets of pensioners’ and demanded a U-turn.

The Met Office warned that there would be an autumnal chill in the air, saying in their UK weather forecast: ‘Rain will work southwards across the country bringing cold northerly winds with it.

‘This markedly cold, showery airmass spreads across the whole of the UK by mid-week with hail and thunder in places, and there is the chance some of the showers could turn wintry over some Scottish mountains.’

The country could see its first snow in months over the Scottish mountains, with still six months to go until we turn our backs on winter.

Insisting that the cut is necessary to bring back economic growth which will benefit pensioners more in the long run, Sir Keir showed no sign he was planning on scrapping or softening the policy.

Asked whether he was worried that pensioners may die as a result of the cuts, a Downing Street spokeswoman said ‘the focus of Government is ensuring that support is properly targeted to those that need it’.

In 2017, Labour’s own research boasted that the winter fuel payment had saved the lives of thousands of pensioners.

The research said: ‘Since the introduction of the winter fuel payment by Labour in 1997, allowing for significant variation in winter weather, deaths among the elderly have fallen from around 34,000 to 24,000. 

‘Half of the almost 10,000 decrease in so-called “excess winter deaths” – the rise in mortality that occurs each winter – between 2000 and 2012 was due to the introduction of the winter fuel allowance.’

Around 10 million pensioners are set to lose out on the winter fuel payments if the vote is approved by MPs, as it almost certainly will be.

While dozens in the Labour benches could potentially rebel, they will likely do so via abstaining rather than outright voting against the government.

This week’s cold weather is expected to ease as the week goes on with fine weather in the south by Friday.

The Met Office forecast says ‘milder air from the Atlantic is expected to push back across the country later on Friday and more especially into the weekend, cutting off the cold air from the north and seeing a return to temperatures nearer average for the time of year’.

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