Liz Truss has just slammed Keir Starmer’s decision to limit winter fuel payments to the poorest pensioners – but seems to have forgotten what her own premiership did for the elderly.
The former PM posted on X on Wednesday, saying: “Britain is in an economic doom loop. Punitive taxes, net zero zealotry and a bloated state are driving business and growth away.
“Labour has punished pensioners by taking away the winter fuel allowance and is raising taxes. Things will only get worse.”
Labour voted to restrict the payment of up to £300 to only those on pension credit this winter on Tuesday in a controversial move which has angered many up and down the country.
But Truss had a serious impact on the pensioners too, despite only being in office for 49 days.
The £45bn of unfunded tax cuts unveiled in her mini-Budget triggered pension funds to fall dramatically in value, as the value of the pound fell and borrowing became more expensive.
The Bank of England had to leap into action by making an emergency intervention and offering to buy up to £65bn of government bonds to protect pension funds.
Some had been close to collapse, and there was a risk of a knock-on effect throughout the financial system.
According to a report from Pensions Regulator, the mini-Budget helped knock £425bn off pension funds’ assets in 2022 – that’s a 24% fall in overall value.
And Truss herself admitted this year that those funds were “essentially a tinderbox”.
She even suggested that, had she known about that beforehand, she might have hesitated over her whole mini-Budget.
The government claims they had to restrict winter fuel payments to plug the £22bn black hole in the public finances left behind by the Tories.
Some ministers have even alluded to Truss’s disastrous time in office to excuse their unpopular decisions now.
Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell told broadcasters earlier this month that without restricting winter fuel payments, pensioners would pay “the heaviest price”.
She said: “We would have seen the markets losing confidence, potentially a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that when the economy crashes is the poorest in society, and people like pensioners.”