Kate Garraway left a government minister reeling as she grilled him on Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for old people.
The Good Morning Britain presenter told Peter Kyle that the controversial policy - which will see 10 million pensioners lose up to £300 - was “a terrible mistake”.
The pair clashed after Keir Starmer confirmed that no official assessment was made on the impact of the policy, including about how many elderly people could die this winter because they are struggling to heat their homes.
Garraway told science minister Kyle: “People assumed that a full impact assessment would have been done, if only to protect the popularity of the new government, let alone the safety and health of pensioners, and it turns out it hadn’t been. That feels like a terrible mistake.”
He insisted that the “triple lock”, which ensures that the state pension must go up by at least the rate of inflation ever year, meant old people will still be better off overall.
But Garraway hit back: “Why would you not look and see so you could feel confident of the number of people who might pass away, the number of people who might be impacted? It would seem to be a really important step.”
Kyle replied: “The evidence shows that pensioners had an above inflation rise in their income this year, they will do so again next year. Even those pensioners who are going to lose the winter fuel credit will have an overall increase in their income.”
Garraway’s co-presenter, Rob Rinder, then asked the minister: “You wouldn’t have made a policy without being absolutely sure what the impact is. You’re the science minister. So what’s your view of the fact that this has happened? This is a terrible mistake, isn’t it?”
But Kyle replied: “Well the evidence is that pensioners overall, even those that are going to lose the winter fuel credit, are going to get an increase in their income next year.”
Tory chairman Richard Fuller said: “Labour ministers are being sent out to defend the indefensible.
“Labour’s fabricated narrative on their economic inheritance is in tatters and now Keir Starmer has admitted Labour have no idea how many pensioners will freeze this winter because the Labour government haven’t bothered to do an impact assessment.
“Keir Starmer must urgently come clean and tell every single member of parliament, including his own Labour MPs, how many of their constituents will freeze this winter because of the Labour government’s choice to choose their union paymasters over vulnerable pensioners.”