WITH Britain in the grip of a brutally cold spell and Storm Bert about to bite, Ofgem announced that the fuel price cap will rise 1.2 per cent in January.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer was back in the country and doubled down on his government’s decision to remove the winter fuel allowance from all 10 million of Britain’s pensioners.

He said it “makes sense” to remove it from the “relatively wealthy” pensioners, which is true – a multi-millionaire in his mansion won’t notice the removal of the £200 or £300 allowance.

But the Government’s own figures show that between 50,000 and 100,000 pensioners will be pushed into poverty next year because of the removal – to adapt the Prime Minister’s words, they would be “relatively unwealthy”.

Mr Starmer then fell back on his defence about having to take tough decisions. No one doubts that the country’s finances are extremely tight and public services – like the NHS – are really struggling, and his party was elected to change the mess left by the Conservatives.

But, if anything, Labour is the party of the underdog and it is the party of fairness, and it is not fair that those pensioners who were just about managing are now, by the removal of the allowance, being pushed over a very cold edge.

Mr Starmer urged those pensioners to apply for pension credit to get the allowance back. If all who are eligible did, it would wipe out the Government’s £1.4bn savings, but if Mr Starmer thinks they will, he doesn’t understand their psyche.

BBC local radio asked Mr Starmer if the winter fuel allowance would be the one policy he came to regret. Pushing pensioners into poverty, no matter the size of the black hole you are faced with, is not a good look for a party of fairness that fights for the underdog.