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Why did Starmer make the winter fuel announcement now?

One reason may be that rumours had reached overdrive that an announcement was in the offing. Given that ministers’ conspicuous non-denials were becoming non-stop, there may have been a calculation that it made more sense just to acknowledge the inevitable now.

But it is also worth considering the broader context.

Winter fuel was by no means the only contentious element of this government’s economic policy.

There is a rebellion brewing on the government’s welfare cuts. Those are likely to face a vote in the Commons next month although estimates of how big the rebellion might be vary wildly.

But Starmer and his party whips will now be able to reassure anxious Labour MPs that they do listen to their complaints, even if they cannot address them in every area.

Fundamentally this is embarrassing for Reeves. She made a big, bold and early call and has reversed it within 10 months.

Her economic and political judgment is increasingly widely questioned within her own party – as demonstrated, just as one example, by the memo from Angela Rayner’s department splashed across the front page of the Telegraph this morning.

The most important verdict on this reversal, though, will come from the public.

Is it a sign of strength from a pragmatic government willing to listen to criticism and act fast in response? Or a sign of weakness from an ideologically unmoored government which does not know what it believes?

We’re ending our live coverage of Prime Minister’s Questions, but you can stay across further updates on the winter fuel payment announcement in our main news story.

Wales first minister ‘delighted’ by winter fuel re-think

Wales’ first minister has welcomed the UK government’s decision to U-turn on winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Eluned Morgan had previously called for a “re-think” on the policy, which started being means-tested last year.

She said the proposed cuts had “caused real concern” for people across Wales and that she was “delighted” the prime minster had listened to concerns raised.

“We are yet to hear the details of the announcement, but I’m hopeful that significantly more people will now benefit from the payment,” she said.

Around 400,000 Welsh homes have been affected by the changes to the payment.

MP suspended by Labour says Starmer’s ‘half-U turn’ isn’t enough

Zarah Sultana, an independent MP for Coventry South, says Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “half U-turn” on the winter fuel payments for pensioners “still doesn’t cut it”.

“Just raising the threshold still leaves many pensioners in avoidable poverty,” she says, referring to Starmer saying during PMQs that he wants more pensioners to get the winter fuel payment.

“The government must reverse the cuts *in full* and restore universal payments.”

Sultana was suspended by Labour in July for defying the Labour whip and voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Starmer pushed on sales of equipment to Israeli military

The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman asks Starmer why the UK is continuing to sell to Israel the equipment for fighter jets “to drop bombs on these starving children”.

“What we contribute into a pot is parts for fighter jets, if we were to stop that they couldn’t be used by other countries in the other conflicts including those in which we are involved,” he explains.

“[The parts are] not sold directly, they go into a pot, if we were to stop that they wouldn’t then be available to others around the world who desperately need them in the conflicts they’re engaged in.

“That’s why we won’t do it.”

• For context: Last September, the UK suspended some arms exports to Israel – the F35 fighters were not included in the ban as the planes are manufactured as part of a global programme

PM ‘deeply concerned’ at British MP’s denial of entry to Hong Kong

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse is up now. She recounts how she was denied entry to Hong Kong on a private visit.

She says the lack of explanation hints at a “hidden blacklist” aimed to silence any MP who speaks up against human rights abuses by the Chinese government.

She asks if Starmer will seek assurances from the Hong Kong authorities that no British MP is denied entry again.

Starmer expresses his sympathy for Hobhouse, and says he finds her experience “deeply concerning”.

He adds that ministers have raised the issue with authorities in China and Hong Kong, to which Foreign Secretary David Lammy nods from the front bench.

Such incidents, he says, “will only undermine Hong Kong’s international reputation and the relationship we have with them”.

Badenoch v Starmer – a recap

That’s it for PMQs for another week. Here’s a look back at the key exchanges:

• Before Kemi Badenoch asked her first question, Starmer announced a U-turn – of sorts – saying he wanted to “make more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payment”
• The government cut the universal payment last year – restricting it to people on pension credit and other income-related benefits. Starmer stressed the government would “only make decisions we can afford”
  • Badenoch – perhaps surprised by the announcement – focused on inflation in her first question, saying: “Inflation was 2% when Conservatives left office, 2%, it’s now nearly double that. When will he recognise that it’s Labour’s budget driving up inflation?”
• Starmer said: “I think what she forgot to say was over 11% on their watch… I am confident those numbers will come down, the Bank of England is confident those numbers will come down”
• Badenoch then accused deputy PM Angela Rayner of being “on manoeuvres”, with the Telegraph reporting today that she recently proposed tax rises earlier this year – Starmer defended Rayner’s record
• Badenoch then turned to winter fuel payments, asking if cuts will be reversed – Starmer confirmed they are looking at changes
• Badenoch then accused Starmer of a U-turn – Starmer said: “As the economy improves, we want to take measures that will impact on people’s lives and therefore we will look at the threshold, but that will have to be part of a fiscal event”

Starmer’s winter fuel U-turn seeks to calm Labour nerves

The details will follow in the Budget this autumn. But make no mistake, this is a U-turn.

The decision to means test the winter fuel allowance was one of the first announcements made by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves almost a year ago.

It was intended to demonstrate both the dire state of the government’s economic inheritance and the new regime’s willingness to take tough decisions in response.

It didn’t quite turn out that way.

Early grumblings from MPs generally on the Labour left rapidly spread into more unexpected parts of the party.

Even those MPs who made a decent fist of defending the policy right to the end admitted that it was the most frequently raised issue by members of the public when they were out campaigning.

It was widely blamed for a bad set of local election results and the dismal defeat to Reform at the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on the same day.

What is the winter fuel payment?

Earlier, we heard Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce in Parliament that he wants more pensioners to be eligible for the winter fuel payment.

It comes after reports began to emerge that senior government figures were weighing whether to overturn their controversial decision to cut the pension top-up.

The payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over-80s, paid in November or December.

Last year, the government restricted the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save £1.4bn.

It was seen as a key issue at this month’s local elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending.

The payment was originally introduced in 1997 by New Labour as a universal payment for all pensioners.

Lib Dem leader calls Starmer’s announcement ‘weasel words’

We can now bring you some more reaction to Keir Starmer’s announcement on the winter fuel payment in the Commons earlier.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says the PM’s comments are “weasel words”, and calls for “an early restoration” of the payment in full.

Speaking after PMQs, Davey says the government could make changes to the winter fuel policy in the spending review rather than at the budget so those eligible could receive their payments for this winter.

“There were some weasel words there,” Davey says.

“I’m not sure if all pensioners will see their payments back,” the Lib Dem leader says, adding that it’s still unclear whether they’ll be eligible for next winter, too.

‘All the bills are round my neck now’: PM’s winter fuel re-think brings relief to pensioner

Around the country, millions of pensioners have relied on the winter fuel payment to afford rising energy bills for heating their home in the coldest months of the year.

I’ve been speaking with one of them, Audrey Sharp, a widow who lives alone in a small house in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.

The 84-year-old tells me the government ended her payments last year, when Labour tightened eligibility for the allowance.

“All the bills are round my neck now,” she tells me. “I’m quite ill sometimes, so I need heating. The electric and gas bills are quite high.”

Sharp says she’s relieved the prime minister says he wants more pensioners to be eligible for the payment.

While I was catching up with her, she tells me she had just finished lunch with around a dozen other seniors, many of whom she says were in the same boat.

“None of us know how much longer we have,” she says. “So you have to make the best of what you’ve got for as long as you can.”

A screeching U-turn from a failing government, say Conservatives

The Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately has released a new statement:

“It says everything about this failing Labour government that the Conservatives have forced Keir Starmer into a screeching U-turn on his flagship winter fuel policy this early in the Parliament.

“Just two weeks ago, Kemi [Badenoch] told the prime minister to change track and he defended his cruel policy.

“After being adamant he wouldn’t change tack before this latest U-turn, the public will be rightly wondering if they can trust anything that comes out of Keir Starmer’s mouth.

“However this U-turn has come too late for those who suffered through the winter having to choose between heating and eating. Keir Starmer should apologise to them immediately.”

Cuts were a ‘major error’ in the first place, says Labour MP

Back in September, Jon Trickett, the Labour MP from Normanton and Hemsworth in Yorkshire, was the only MP to vote against the cuts in winter fuel payments (other Labour MPs abstained).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he now says the cuts last year were a “major error”.

“They ought to be reversed in total now,” he adds.

Government should raise living standards for all generations, think tank says

The Resolution Foundation says it supports Starmer’s announcement to make more pensioners eligible for the winter fuel payment – but believes he should go further to raise the standards for young people, too.

“This is affordable at £300m and would benefit more than a million families,” says Ruth Curtice, the think tank’s CEO.

“But today’s announcement must be seen in the context of the government’s wider welfare trilemma as it also steers through controversial health and disability benefit reforms and prepares a new child poverty strategy.”

Curtice argues that the government needs to also address tackling child poverty, and suggests removing the two-child limit on support.

This would show the government “is committed to raising living standards for all generations, and not just those beyond working age”.

‘Social tariffs’ for energy are a better long-term solution, says Age UK

Charity Age UK appears cautiously supportive of the announced U-turn on cuts to the winter fuel payment, but adds that the “devil is always in the detail”.

Director Caroline Abrahams says any changes will be judged on how well they help vulnerable older people heat their homes next winter.

She says a “social tariff for energy” may instead be part of the “longer-term answer”, but for now the government needs to act fast to help people ahead of the colder months.

Social tariffs are lowered rates for electricity and gas given to lower-income customers by their energy company. They were phased out in the UK in 2011 in favour of a different subsidy.

Authorities in Scotland have since started working with energy providers to establish a social tariff programme there.