LabourList poll suggests party supporters divided over winter fuel cuts

A poll from LabourList has shown respondents are deeply divided over whether Labour should scrap the winter fuel allowance as a universal benefit for pensioners.

The Starmer government has come under heavy fire for announcing plans to means-test the payments, which critics argue would place undue pressure on struggling pensioners.

The Prime Minister has defended the measure as a necessary “tough” decision to plug the fiscal black hole left by the Tories.

But a poll on today’s LabourList email newsletter showed our readers to be split as to whether Starmer or his critics are right on the matter.

With 1,260 respondents, just over one in four (26.1%) said Labour is right to move towards the means-tested model, while 39.3% flatly opposed it.

But 33.6% said their view would depend on what the threshold for support was, and 1%were not sure.

Respondents were equally unsure of how Labour MPs should vote on the motion that faces parliament tomorrow, where as many as 50 Labour MPs are expected to rebel agains the government line.

34.5% said MPs should vote against means testing on the grounds that pensioners need support, while 32.7% said that means-testing should be introduced as better off pensioners would not need the extra cash.

Meanwhile 17.7% said that means-testing was the right thing to do as the government needs the extra cash, but a closely followed 17% said the the political cost to the move was not worth the political risk.

A total of 12.1% said MPs should abstain – as rebels are reportedly likely to do – while the remaining respondents didn’t know or were split between other justifications for each position.

As the leading dedicated Labour news and comment platform with readers across the party, LabourList hopes the poll may give some clues about Labour members’ views more broadly.

It should still be handled with some caution, however. LabourList is not suggesting this is a scientific, weighted poll that provides an exact representation of the views of all party members at large. While many members read our daily email, anyone can subscribe to it, and anyone can fill in the poll, member or not.

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