Sir Keir Starmer admitted his new government is “going to have to be unpopular” amid a furious backlash over axing winter fuel payments for most pensioners.
The Prime Minister sought to defend the “tough” decision to restrict the allowance to only those on pension credit.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’m absolutely convinced we will only deliver that change, I’m absolutely determined we will, if we do the difficult things now. I know they’re unpopular, I know they’re difficult, of course they’re tough choices.”
Sir Keir added: “We’re going to have to be unpopular. Popular decisions aren’t tough, they are easy.
“When we talk about tough decisions I’m talking about tough decisions, the things the last government ran away from.
Sir Keir Starmer defended winter fuel payments cuts (Image: BBC)
“I’m convinced that because they’ve run away from difficult decisions, we haven’t got the change we need for the country.”
The PM faces a potential Labour rebellion in Parliament this week when MPs will vote on scrapping winter fuel payments for around 10 million older people.
Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury, yesterday became the latest backbencher to say she could not vote with the Government when the measures comes to the Commons on Tuesday.
She said she could “absolutely not” support the move, joining other backbenchers who have voiced their concerns.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled plans to limit previously universal winter fuel payments in July.
She blamed the decision on a £22billion black hole in the public finances left by Rishi Sunak’s government, which the Tories have denied.
The move is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10million, from 11.4million to 1.5million – saving around £1.4billion this year.
The Daily Express is campaigning for the Government to U-turn and save the payments.
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The Government’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments has provoked anger (Image: Getty)
He is appalled at the speed of the decision to axe the payments for people who do not receive pension credit.
“Something like this would normally happen at a major fiscal event and the Office for Budget Responsibility would score the measure and also there would be impact assessments around the measure and Parliament would have more time to consider it,” he said.
“This has just been completely dumped and shovelled through.”
Warning that angry voters are unlikely to forget this cash-saving move, he said: “I think there is genuine public outrage about what has happened. When I meet constituents and I look at my mailbag I don’t get any sense that this is just going to come and go.”
On Tuesday, Mr Stride will be at the forefront of efforts to persuade MPs to vote against the cut.
In a direct appeal to Labour MPs, he said: “If in your heart you know that this is deeply unfair and going to be punishing for a lot of people who are vulnerable and not able to change their circumstances, we’re giving you the chance now to vote this down.”
Mel Stride wants to win the leadership of the Conservative party and take it back into power (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Also on Tuesday, he will hope to survive the latest round of voting in the Conservative leadership election. He finished in fifth place in last week’s round with 16 votes, behind Tom Tugendhat (17), James Cleverly (21), Kemi Badenoch (22) and Robert Jenrick (28). His position ahead of Priti Patel, who was eliminated from the race after winning 14 votes, has spurred talk of “Mel-mentum”.
“I am the dark horse,” he said. Insisting this is a serious bid for the top job in the party, he said: “I’ve always been in it to win it and I always knew that I had the support to get through.”
A priority is “wrestling back” public trust in the Tories to manage the economy and moving on from the chaos that brought an end to Liz Truss’s premiership.
“We did lose our mantle of economic competence around the time, I’m afraid, of that mini-Budget,” he said.
He says he wants to lead a “moderate party” – one that celebrates “aspiration, opportunity and achievement” – which people will believe shares their values and is on their side.
A further key goal is reaching out to younger voters.
“The average age of a Tory voter in the last election was 63,” he said. “That is an astonishing statistic.”
Just as Sir Keir Starmer ousted a Tory party that won a landslide in 2019, Mr Stride aspires to oust Labour.
Noting that Labour won 412 seats with just 34 per cent of the vote, he said: “They are eminently beatable. We have got to be an effective Opposition.”
This would be a dramatic comeback for a party that won just 121 constituencies in the summer election but Mr Stride has no deficit of ambition.
“There are no rules,” he said. “Things are very volatile.”
