Good Morning Britain fans were seething this morning as they raged at their TV screens over Wes Streeting's reaction to the situation facing pensioners after Keir Starmer axed the winter fuel allowance.
Viewers could scarcely believe their eyes when they witnessed Streeting insisting: "Pensioners will still be better off this winter and will be better off further still next winter." Susanna Reid wasn't accepting that, as she stormed: "How many people are going to die as a result of you taking that money away from them?"
When Streeting assured her that the "impact analysis" of Labour's actions would be "assessed by the Chancellor in the usual way", she asked incredulously: "Just to re-establish... you will assess how many pensioners will die as a result of taking away the winter fuel allowance?" She continued: "Energy bills are going up & you're taking away hundreds of pounds from the majority of pensioners. Those pensioners are not going to feel better off!"
Streeting persisted in his defence of the "tough choices" the government had made, stating that axing the allowance for the majority of pensioners had "raised about £1.5 billion of the £22 billion black hole we've got to plug". He added ominously that there were even more "painful choices to come".
"I know that is hard to hear and the medicine is not welcome, the medicine doesn't always feel good or taste good - but it's better than the alternative of not acting and not doing the responsible thing by the public finances," he continued. Streeting added that the publIc would "all end up paying a much higher price further down the line" if Labour didn't make difficult decisions now.
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However, the nation was left horrified by the news that elderly people living on just £12,000 per year would now have to find extra cash to heat their homes - and Streeting's "reassurances" that Labour was committing to the triple lock and warm homes discount didn't go nearly far enough.
One viewer tweeted: "#GMB Wes Streeting banging on about the elderly having to take their medicine whilst simultaneously cutting their incomes to freeze them to death, is proper sinister."
"Will Labour ever stop gaslighting the British public?" another quizzed.
Another blasted: "It’s always the poorer people who suffer any cuts! SHAME ON YOU @UKLabour."
