BBC Breakfast: John Healey addresses winter fuel repayments
Defence Secretary John Healey sparked fury among viewers during BBC Breakfast after he rejected calls for MPs to vote about scrapping winter fuel repayments for pensioners across the UK.
Presenter Jon Kay probed: “Can we just ask you about a subject we get messaged about every single morning, about your decision to scrap the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in the weeks ahead?
“We understand there’s still no plans to have a vote on that, a debate on that in the House of Commons, why not?”
Healey replied: “What you’ll see next month when the Chancellor introduces the budget, you’ll see votes in the normal way then.
“That’ll be an opportunity for the House of Common to vote on a range of measures that the government with have to take.”
He continued: “That range of measures will be to deal with a financial inheritance, a situation that nobody including us imagined would be as bad as it was.
“The Chancellor has indicated that this totals in this year a deficit of £22 billion.
In defence, we’re grappling with a large budget deficit that we have to deal with in the year this means some really tough decisions.”
However, his response angered many including @songforzula who hit back: “It wasn't a 'difficult decision '. It was a choice you made. Terrible.”
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Another added: "Rejecting a vote on scrapping winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners is disgraceful. Denying MPs a say in this harsh decision only deepens the impact on those who’ll suffer most this winter. It’s shameful to avoid accountability on such a critical issue."
@DavidRe86250053 blasted: “Not to have a vote on this is the lowest of the low. Each MP should be given the opportunity to demonstrate to their constituents his/her position on this.”
@Barryhh48 raged: “But it’s not difficult to give over 11billion away to country’s for climate issues.”
As @sonsrap10 penned: “So you blame the last government and possibly kill off our elderly at the same time. What’s more important people or money to this government??”
