Labour has refused to say how many old people could die as a result of its decision to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners.
Keir Starmer has been accused of “hiding” an impact assessment into the effects of the controversial policy.
Around 10 million OAPs will miss out on the payments, which are worth up to £300, after Rachel Reeves announced that only the very poorest pensioners will continue to receive it.
At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Tory leader Rishi Sunak said: “We know why he’s hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3,850 deaths. So, are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?”
Dodging the question, Starmer insisted the government was means testing the winter fuel payment in order to “stabilise the economy”.
“That means we can commit to the triple lock,” he said. “By committing to the triple lock we can make sure that payments of state pension are higher and therefore there’s more money in the pockets of pensioners, not withstanding the tough action we need to take.
“But he goes around pretending that everything is fine. That’s the argument he tried in the election and that’s why he’s sitting there and we are sitting here.”
Sunak hit back: “Pensioners watching will have seen that the prime minister has repeatedly refused to admit or publish the consequences of his decision and we will continue holding him to account for that.”
Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has previously confirmed that an assessment of the impact of removing the winter fuel payment had been carried out.
She said: “A statistical publication estimating the rate of fuel poverty for those in receipt of winter fuel payment in 2023, and the proportion of households who would be in fuel poverty under new eligibility criteria, will be published in due course.”
But after PMQs, a Downing Street spokesperson refused to even confirm that the document exists.
She said: “I’m not getting into the advice ministers received, but in terms of supporting the most vulnerable, there is support available and we encourage people to make use of it.”
Embarrassingly for No10, Starmer called in May for the then Tory government to publish its impact assessment into cuts to universal credit.
He told the Daily Mirror: “Good government requires transparency. Good government requires accountability. And this information should have been in the public domain long ago.
“And I have no doubt when we see this information we’ll find out why Rishi Sunak was trying to hide it. But yes, good government is about accountability and transparency.”