Labour’s war on pensioners is fuelled by pure spite

The party’s punishment for voting Tory will not end with cutting winter fuel allowances

Before he became Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer took great pains to show voters how deeply he cared about the elderly. “Looking ahead to winter is frightening,” he tweeted, a mere two years ago. “I’ve met pensioners who have no idea how they’ll heat their homes.”
So what does he do, the moment he gets into office? Strip 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments. 
Now that the Commons has ratified it – with just a single one of Sir Keir’s 404 MPs voting against – this shamelessly hypocritical plan will officially go ahead. Back in 2017, when Sir Keir was a senior member of the shadow cabinet, Labour’s own research found that such a policy could cause nearly 4,000 pensioners to die. 
Yet evidently Sir Keir considers the onset of winter to be less “frightening” this year. I wonder what’s changed. Other than the fact that he is now safely in power, and so no longer has to pretend to care what elderly voters think. Or at least, not for another five years. By which time, he may have calculated, many of them won’t be around anyway. Especially if the winters are chilly.
But it’s not just the policy itself that’s causing such consternation. It’s the fact that there was no mention of it in Labour’s manifesto – which was published less than three months ago. Even the party’s media cheerleaders are aghast at this lack of transparency. 
Take Carol Vorderman, the former Countdown star who around 18 months ago reinvented herself as a ferocious anti-Tory activist, and greeted Labour’s election win by whooping, “Let’s get the party started!” live on TV. She has now accused Labour of having “duped” voters.
Mind you, things could get even worse. Victoria Collins, a Lib Dem MP, says an elderly couple in her constituency “are considering going around on a bus to keep warm”. Good luck with that – because a Labour minister has refused to rule out means-testing pensioners’ bus passes, as well. Funnily enough, there was no mention of that little idea in the manifesto, either.
As the elderly contemplate the winter months ahead, therefore, they will no doubt be asking why Labour is treating them with such naked contempt. Personally, though, I think the answer is simple.
It’s revenge.
Ignore all the waffle about “difficult decisions”. If money is so tight, why are ministers lavishing 14 per cent pay rises on train drivers who were already on £60,000 salaries for a four-day week? In reality, what’s happening is this: the Government is rewarding those who support Labour (trade unionists), while penalising those who don’t. 
And the fact is that pensioners, over the past 14 years, did more than any other electoral demographic to keep Labour out of power – by overwhelmingly voting Tory. 
Indeed, pensioners didn’t just win elections for the Tories – they won the EU referendum for Leave, too. So now that Sir Keir, who led Labour’s efforts to prevent Brexit, is stripping the elderly of their winter fuel payments, and apparently eyeing their bus passes, it’s impossible to avoid the following conclusion – Labour’s war on pensioners is fuelled by pure spite. 
Still, let’s look on the bright side. The older generation is made of stern stuff. And if they need to supplement their income, I’m sure they’ll spot the obvious way to do it. 
Simply become a drug dealer. Easy money, and no need to worry about getting caught. Because, thanks to Labour’s exciting new early release programme, they’d be out of prison in no time. 
Then again, since cells have heating, they might well demand to stay.