Minister misspoke over hints of winter fuel payment changes, say government sources – UK politics live | Politics

Sky News has broadcast some footage from the Downing Street meeting this morning, where Keir Starmer is launching the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime. Idris Elba, the actor who has campaigned on this issue, is among those attending.

Good morning. When Keir Starmer says he is willing to take tough, unpopular decisions as PM, he is using language leaders have relied on for centuries, often quite effectively. But the problem with this approach is that it is not just a rhetorical device; it can get very, very tough, and it might make you exceedingly unpopular. This week, with MPs voting on the plan to means-test the winter fuel payments tomorrow, and peers voting on it on Wednesday, Starmer is facing arguably the first serious test of his resolve on the “tough decisions” front as PM. It won’t be his last.

Judging by events this morning, he is holding firm. Government sources have said that a minister was wrong this morning when she implied ministers are considering watering down the plans to means-test the winter fuel payment.

Critics are angry because – under the proposal announced by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, in July – only the very poorest pensioners, those claiming pension credit, will continue to get the winter fuel allowance, which is worth up to £300 per person. More than a million pensions who are regarded as living in poverty will still lose the allowance, according to some estimates. Diana Johnson, a Home Office minister, was doing an interview round this morning (she was meant to be talking about knife crime) and on the Today programme she was asked by Mishal Husain if the government would consider means-testing the winter fuel allowance in a more generous way, allowing more pensioners on low and moderate incomes to keep it. Johnson twice insisted that she was not privy to these discussions, and that it was a matter for the Treasury and the DWP. But when Husain asked her a third time, saying that one idea is for pensioners in council tax bands A to D to carry on getting the winter fuel payment, and another is for a social tariff that would force firms to offer cheaper energy to poor pensioners, Johnson replied:

I am sure across government all these measures are being looked at.

In context, this sounded more like Johnson trying to give a slightly more sophisticated version of the ‘I don’t know’ answer (in theory government is always looking at ideas if people are talking about them). But Johnson’s comment could have been interpreted as implying that ministers are actively planning some sort of U-turn, and within minutes the government briefing machine was in action to say that no concession is on the way. This is from Henry Zeffman, the BBC’s chief political correspondent.

Government sources saying that Home Office minister Diana Johnson misspoke this morning when she said that the Treasury was looking at ways to soften the impact of the winter fuel allowance cut, including a social tariff for energy bills

I will post more from Johnson’s interview round soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Keir Starmer hosts a meeting on knife crime at 4Downing Street.

10am: Ros Altmann, a former Tory pensions minister who is leading attempts in the Lords to block the proposed cut to the winter fuel payment, speaks at a Resolution Foundation conference.

10am: The Covid inquiry module looking at the impact of the pandemic on healthcare opens, with statements from counsel.

11am: Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, speaks at the TUC conference in Brighton.

Lunchtime: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

2.30pm: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, takes question in the Commons.

4pm: The five Tory leadership candidates still in the contest hold a hustings with MPs in private.

6pm: Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is due to address Labour MPs in private at the parliamentary Labour party.

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