A BBC Breakfast presenter pointed out to a government minister that the controversial decision to cut back on winter fuel payments is, in fact, a choice.
Tomorrow, MPs will vote on whether to cut back on the allowance (of up to £300) that all pensioners currently receive and making only it available to only the most vulnerable.
If it goes through, 10 million elderly people will lose out on the payment.
There are fears there will be a significant Labour rebellion over the vote with up to 50 MPs allegedly considering voting against the government.
Over on BBC Breakfast this morning, minister Diana Johnson was asked if she would support the Labour MPs who might abstain from the vote rather than voting against PM Keir Starmer.
She deflected by saying: “We are faced with a really difficult inheritance from the last government.”
Johnson listed off the troubling financial issues facing ministers right now, including an overspend of £6.4bn in the home office alone.
“I think the chancellor across government, is having to make some really difficult decisions. She’s identified £22bn that we need to find,” the minister said.
“I don’t think anybody actually wants to see this proposal around winter fuel allowance brought in, but as the prime minister has said, we are going to have make some tough decisions.”
Presenter Sally Nugent then cut in with a brutal reminder: “But they are decisions! They are choices! They are decisions! It’s a decision your government is making.”
Johnson admitted: “Yeah, and it’s a tough one, but it’s one the chancellor obviously feels we need to make.”
She also pointed out that the government is working to increase the number of elderly who apply for pension credit – which also guarantees an individual can hold onto their winter fuel payment.
She noted there could be a social tariff with the energy minister in the future and that the government is holding onto the triple lock, too.
However, government sources later told the BBC Johnson misspoke when she said the Treasury was looking to soften the impact of the winter fuel allowance cut.
The prime minister told the BBC on Sunday that the move was essential to deal with the ”£22bn black hole” left by the Tories, and that he accepted his government was “going to have to be unpopular”.
He said they had to do “the difficult things now” for the long term interest, adding: “I’m not going to apologise for this, but I do recognise how difficult it is for some people.”
Starmer added that it was a good thing to change the “untargeted” system, which saw some very wealthy pensioners receive the winter fuel paymenets.
He added: “Everybody thought that wasn’t a particularly good system, so it needed to be targeted.”