I think the UK has its priorities wrong. The overseas aid budget is 12 billion per year and payments to Ukraine have been 15 billion. We could have a moratorium for a year or 2 and problem solved. You must look after your own and most importantly your most vulnerable first.

We can’t afford to stop aid to Ukraine as we have no idea what Putin would do if Ukraine came under Russian rule.

There is nothing to say the only way to solve this issue is through a winter fuel allowance. There are other existing means to redistribute money to the poorest while not giving away money to millions who don’t need it. Pension credits worth £1000s aren’t being claimed for starters. I’m not for a single second suggesting there is no issue. There is certainly a communications issue. The winter fuel allowance is a very wasteful benefit as it stands though.
Labour have made a big mistake not presenting this as part of a wider package of redistribution. I’ve no doubt they’ll tax wealth (good) but reforming the fuel allowance in isolation is daft.

And America shouldn’t have supported us in WWII. Should have just let Germany do their worst and looked after themselves.

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie.

First rule of war, Secure waterways and airways.

People are still flying in for Holidays, Leaders flying in/out at will.
If Putin wanted the whole lot, He would have by now.

You sure they will tax the wealth, Out of the many M/Billionaires how many have fled, Like they threaten to.

Have we finished paying the debt back to the USA yet, By supported you do mean loaned us don,t you.

The Ukraine will never ever be debt free, The only reason they get any support is their strategic position in Europe.

Yep just another nodding dog.

Who are the abstainers?

There's lots don't claim pension credit because it's 40 odd pages of form filling which many are not capable of doing. It would be simple enough to pay pension credit auto.atically but it would cost the government billions so they won't. You do realise a pensioner on about £12,500 per year earns too much for pension credit and absolutely needs that 200 / 300 quid.
It's not been thought through and many will suffer and die as a result but it's a tough choice and Machoman Starmer is just the man to take those tough choices.
When even the trade unions are telling him it's wrong then it's definitely wrong.
This will tarnish his tenure and his reputation indefinitely. The rebels and abstainers and even some cabinet ministers will resent him for pushing this through.

Sadly this will be fish and chips paper tomorrow and some super models breast enhancement will be on the front page.

Our spineless mp is just a westminster puppet..he aint bothered about the town or its people else he would have voted against and not be a fucking sheep

And now some TV panelist preaching the triple lock has to stop n can't go on forever.
Nailed on the 67 age goes up to 68 in the not to distant future.

And if everyone downed tools tomorrow, We could have what ever we wanted.

at least its two different types of tits on different days.

shows where the loyalty lies. nobody in the town will be able to offer him a cushy job for following orders.

Anyone care to comment on Mrs Brash's sources of income............

Our pathetic MP chose his Party over his constituents.
That tells you all you need to know, he’s a semi house trained nodding dog, who’ll do as-he’s told by his ‘leader’….to advance his ‘career’.
It’s been revealed that if all the pensioners who qualify for Pension Credits all apply, then the ‘savings’ they trumpet will be wiped out by the cost of the benefits….. shit for brains

Oh no they won’t .
They might like to think it, but this is a self inflicted case of pointless lunacy on a grand scale.
Starmer’s Poll Tax project.

Thought it a bit strange when one Labour MP was asked why she abstained rather than voting against it she replied she didn't want to end her political career as a Labour MP. Think she has done just that, she'll be no longer an MP at the next election.
Surely you'd sleep easier having voted with your conscience as an Indepedent?
Party before people and country is a major part of the decline in this once great country.

Nope it won’t, remember the Lib Dem’s pre the coalition, what they promised in their manifesto, it went out the window when they teamed up with the Tories to form a coalition government. The next election they got obliterated and only now have they recovered.
The best Labour can hope for is some of our pensioners won’t be around to vote in the next election for reason I don’t need to mention.

What does it matter, more important things in life.

Yes but Labour know all the pensioners who are entitled to PC won’t apply for it, there should a national campaign in the media encouraging and showing how they can apply.

at least she was honest about the system though. a system that should never be happening as all votes for all issues should be free and the whip system outlawed. only one labour mp voted against the governments proposal but him and his vote will be soon forgotton.

You know what politicians are like Jamie, they’ll tell you vaguely how to get somewhere but never give you an accurate map….in the hope you never arrive.

There’s several lists on line but a pensioners group is publishing a ‘List of Shame’.

Tell me more

Starmer now claiming it was the whips who forced MPs to fall in line, nowt to do with him then? Wonder who the whips boss is?

The pension credit should be automatic. The government has all the information so they should pay it automatically.
I had a look for a friend and it is not straightforward to claim which is a ploy to discourage those from claiming. Unfortunately those are the exact people who need it.

Kafkaesque.

bigger shame on the abstainers more than those who voted in favour. the cowards way out.

Spot on, easy enough to determine if people qualify 2 simple questions "do you qualify for state pension", "is your total income more than £11400 per year". No need for 40 odd pages of beaurocracy at all. It's designed to discourage claimants and therefore save money.
£11400 is way too low a threshold mind, should be more like the equivalent to the minimum living wage. Just change the £11400 to MLW and job done.

all benefits should be paid automatically to everyone who is in a position to receive them. people should not have to search the web for them or ask those in the know what they can claim or not. feel its a situation of we,ll only pay if they know what they can claim for.

52 abstentions but from what I read 40 didn’t even bother turning up so that was counted as an abstention.

Can’t disagree but that would come in at over £24k for a single person, that’s never going to happen. Your pension should be based on your previous x amount of years earnings, why should you have to take a cut in your income which you have become accustomed to be living on ?

How do the DWP know how much savings, private pension etc you have, that’s why it’s means tested.

The sheep voting for it are just bounders, but the abstained are sneaky bounders.…My posts has been altered, I never said ‘boulders’…is the Staremersi monitoring me?
I definitely used the word ‘Canute’.

People could die as a result of this. I wouldn't like that on my conscience.

They haven't means tested it though in reality because to do so would have meant doing a full impact assessment to make sure the cut off wouldn't harm vulnerable people.
If it had been do e in that way and a reasonable cut off introduced there would not have been the backlash and public condemnation we've seen.
What they've done is simply set a limit of £11400 income which is ridiculously low.
Tens of millions of people who disagree with this including many Labour MPs can't be wrong.
Starmer says he didn't want to do it, then why has he, who's actually pulling his strings. And if there's worse to come in the budget is he being hung out to dry by his controllers?

question i ask myself is why some are on pension credits anyway and others are not. i,m not and have only worked in a job where my earnings with overtime have been just about the national average. is it the real low earners who are getting it or as i suspect the workshy who only paid in if they had to. if so why should we have to lose out again when they come up smelling of roses yet again. again its the system you can blame more than the individuals.

They can only blame the tories for so long. They have already added to the black hole themselves whilst voting for a potential death of 4k pensioners, even by their own findings.

They can't blame anything on anybody cos they said they would change and fix what is wrong. So all that is wrong is blamed on the Tories and anything they can't fix is because of the Tory inheritance. So why did the country put them in.
They say I'm going to get £460 extra pension in April but I'm not because they'll claw back £92 in tax. So far the've committed to taking £292 out of me back pocket so my net gain in April stands at £168. They won't rest untill they take all of it back. Bunch of lying cheating thieving bastards.
In fact the £168 will probably go on energy increases.

Then deduct the WFA payment.

Pension Credits is determined on how much you have in the bank and other income, between £6000 and £15000 in savings or income from a PP it is reduced accordingly anything above £15000 you get nowt.

Dare say there’s some who might have savings somewhere they want to keep quiet, but that will be a moniority of a minority.

KS & RR need to pull something big out of the hat in the budget.
But dont hold your breath..

I notice Mr Brash was out with his prepared ‘statement’ justifying his choice, did all the apparatchiks get one…?
First time I’ve heard of him since the riots…he’s making Mortimer look like an attention seeker.

Why oh why would these clowns keep giving out threats of hard times and sacrifices and the World as we know it is about to end only to come to Budget of Doom day and be surprised with an out of date selection box to cover for the pain …per household.

Jamie, Ive deducted the WFA payment. £92 income tax and £200 WFA makes £292.

I didn’t have my calculator at hand Derwent, the point I am making is the rise in the State Pension which isn’t till next April will not compensate pensioners for losing the WFA.