Keir Starmer has refused four times to apologise for stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners – as he faces defeat in a Labour conference vote today

The defiant stance came in a bruising clash with Susanna Reid on ITV ‘s Good Morning Morning Britain before he headed for a UN summit in New York

The Unite union staged a protest at Labour conference today ahead of a vote on the issue

Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.

‘When you inherit an economy with £22 billion missing, it is a really difficult set of choices.

‘But what I don’t want to do is to allow the economy to run out of control. What I want to make sure is that every single pensioner, there is that increase through the triple lock each and every year…’

Told again that he had an opportunity to say sorry, the PM said: ‘The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.’

Reid persisted ‘so you’re not going to apologise?’

Sir Keir said: ‘I’ve come in to fix the mess, fix the problems, and that’s tough, really tough decisions.

‘The cost of not doing it is to run the risk that we lose control of the economy again.

‘I’m not going to do that because if I do, you will be saying to me in two or three years’ time, if we lose control of the economy, will you now say sorry for having lost control of the economy?’

Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have put forward the winter fuel motion at Labour conference.

Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.’

It was originally set to be debated on Monday – but was rescheduled for after Sir Keir had given his big speech and departed amid rumours of backroom manoeuvring.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has described the policy as ‘cruel’ and called on the PM to admit he made a ‘misstep’.

CWU officials will not be at Labour’s conference today as they are attending the funeral in Scotland of the union’s former assistant general secretary Andy Kerr, who used to be on Labour’s national executive.

The motion calls for means testing of the winter fuel allowance to be reversed and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.

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Keir Starmer is accused of ‘conning the public’ over the state of Britain’s finances: Tory chairman says PM has ‘fabricated’ problems amid claim that things will only get WORSE before they get better

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of ‘conning the public’ over his grim assessment of the state of Britain’s finances.

The Prime Minister was accused of having ‘showered billions of taxpayers’ money on union paymasters while ‘parachuting donors and supporters into top taxpayer funded jobs’.

Sir Keir will this week warn of more pain to come as he claims that the state of modern Britain is ‘worse than we ever imagined’.

Conservative Party chairman Richard Fuller also attacked ‘soft-touch’ Chancellor Rachel Reeves for ‘fabricating’ a financial black hole in order to raise taxes.

Mr Fuller said: ‘Just two months in and Keir Starmer has taken winter fuel payments off 10 million pensioners, showered billions of taxpayers’ money on his union paymasters and is now engulfed in a cronyism scandal after parachuting donors and supporters into top taxpayer funded jobs.

Sir Keir Starmer will this week warn of more pain to come as he claims that the state of modern Britain is ‘worse than we ever imagined’

Tory party chairman Richard Fuller accused the Prime Minister of ‘fabricating’ financial problems ‘to con the public into accepting tax increases

‘The soft-touch Labour Chancellor is squandering money whilst fabricating a financial black hole in an attempt to con the public into accepting tax rises, and literally leaving pensioners in the cold.’

In his first major speech since entering No 10, the Prime Minister will say that ‘things will get worse before they get better’.

And he will claim as well as inheriting a £22 billion blackhole from the Tories, Labour had also been left a ‘societal blackhole’.

Speaking on Sunday, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told broadcasters the speech would represent a change from the rhetoric of the previous government.

He told LBC: ‘I think it’s a refreshing departure not to engage in some of the snake oil that has been sold to people in recent years and actually have a Prime Minister who says, look, we know it’s a tough situation. You know it’s tough. That’s why you voted for change.

‘Change will come, but we’ve got to work through some of these challenges first.

He added: ‘We have got a difficult economic inheritance, there is no point in running away from that, and we have a number of challenges.

‘But we have already started work.

‘We have announced plans for a National Wealth Fund. We have announced plans to build more houses.

Rachel Reeves was accused of ‘fabricating’ the scale of an economic black hole in order to justify tax rises

‘We have lifted the ban on onshore wind, starting that energy transition that is really important.

‘So, progress is being made, we are at the start of a journey of change in this Parliament.

‘Change has already begun, and more change will come in future years.’

But Sir Keir will vow not to ‘shy away from making unpopular decisions’ to restore the country, and fix the ‘rot’ left by the Tories.

Last night Labour sources denied that was code for punishing tax hikes expected in this Autumn’s Budget, saying the PM was ‘trying to be honest that the change people voted for will take time’.

It comes with his Government accused of caving into the union barons by agreeing huge wage deals at the same time as it cuts winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners. But Sir Keir justifies the pay deals, saying ‘we’ve ended the strikes that have crippled our country for years.

‘Because I defy anyone to tell me that you can grow an economy when people can’t get to work – because the transport system is broken. Or can’t return to work – because they’re stuck on an NHS waiting list.’

The PM will also seek to link this Summer’s riots with 14 years of ‘populism’ and Tory failures, claiming ‘people torching cars, making threats’ were exploiting the country’s ‘broken’ system.

‘They were betting on it. They were gaming it.’

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told broadcasters on Sunday that Sir Keir’s speech would represent a change of rhetoric from the previous government

Sir Keir also claims years of Tory failure – including ‘not having enough prison spaces’ – meant that dealing with this summer’s riots was ‘much harder’ than tackling the 2011 disturbances when he was Director of Public Prosecutions.

To back up his claim that ‘frankly, things will get worse before they get better’, he will say: ‘I didn’t want to release prisoners early…

‘But to be blunt, if we hadn’t taken that difficult decision immediately, we wouldn’t have been able to respond to the riots as we did.’

Boasting that ‘we’ve done more in seven weeks than the last government did in seven years’, he will accuse the Tories of ‘still not being honest’ about the £22billion black hole.