Sir Keir Starmer has said it “makes sense to make the change” to winter fuel payments when asked why he was “picking a fight with the pensioners”.

However, the Prime Minister added that there were decisions made in the Budget which he would have preferred “not to have had to make”.

The benefit was previously available to almost everyone in the UK born before September 25, 1957 to help cover their heating costs.

However, from this winter only those on Pension Credit or means-tested benefits will get the Winter Fuel Payment.

The Treasury said the changes would see the number of pensioners receiving the payments fall from 11.4 million to 1.5 million – so just under 10 million would miss out.

They added that about £1.5 billion will be saved per year by targeting winter fuel payments.

Age UK, who said the decision would see millions of pensioners unable to heat their homes this winter, set up a petition calling on the Government to scrap the change.

Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside as part of a round of interviews on local radio, the Prime Minister was asked about warnings of more pensioners going into poverty as a result of making the benefit means tested.

Sir Keir said: “Without the change that we’re putting in place at the moment, the allowance goes to everyone, whether they need it or not, and therefore there are many who don’t need it because they’re relatively wealthy.

“And I think most people would say that doesn’t make sense when you’ve got a really, really difficult, tight budget – We’ve got to deliver for our NHS, for our schools, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got public services that people can rely on, including, of course, pensioners.

“So it makes sense to make the change.”

Recommended Reading:

He said it is “important to protect pensioners who most need the allowance” and urged people who are eligible for pension credit to take it up.

And when asked about whether he would come to regret his decision to make changes to the winter fuel allowance, the Prime Minister said: “There are lots of decisions we had to make in the Budget which, to be perfectly honest, I’d have preferred not to have had to make.

“But when you inherit a broken economy, when you then find out there was £22 billion which doesn’t appear on the books, and you’d need to balance the books, very, very difficult decisions have to be made.”

He said that the Government is “making sure that those entitled to pension credit are protected through this”, and added: “There are a number of people who are entitled to pension credit who aren’t claiming it, and it’s very important that (…) they take up that entitlement.”