Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been branded “clueless” by Reform UK’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice, as he hit out at Labour’s “scandalous” decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners.
The move, which is set to impact around 10 million pensioners across Britain, has been heavily criticised across the political spectrum after being voted through by nearly 400 Labour MPs.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also announced today that public sector net debt is now at 100 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), another blow to Reeves’s first few months in office.
Reacting to the scrapping of the Winter Fuel Payment, Richard Tice told GB News that the Chancellor is “clueless”, and has got the decision “completely wrong”.
Richard Tice has blasted Chancellor Rachel Reeves over the Winter Fuel Payment cuts
PA / GB News
When asked by host and former Tory MP Miriam Cates if Reeves is “right to stick to her guns” by “means testing the Winter Fuel Payment and possibly raising taxes”, Tice strongly disagreed, fuming: “No, she’s completely wrong.
“She’s utterly clueless, she won’t do what needs to be done. She won’t tell the Bank of England not to pay £30billion of voluntary reserves, they won’t scrap net zero, which would save £30billion approximately every single year – that’s how you create some growth.”
Delivering his verdict on the Winter Fuel Payment cuts, Tice revealed he has had pensioners “breaking down in tears” to him, fearing that they “won’t make it through this winter”.
Tice raged: “The winter fuel allowance is an absolute scandal. I’ve got over 22,200 pensioners losing that winter fuel allowance. I’m furious.
The Chancellor has vowed to protect the ‘most vulnerable’ pensioners despite the winter fuel cuts
PA
“I had a pensioner in Boston just two weeks ago, literally shake my hand and burst into tears in fear as to whether or not she would see the end of winter, because she was worried about being so cold.”
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Criticising the Labour Government, Tice claimed that Starmer and his cabinet have “no idea” how to create growth, and blasted them for “not protecting pensioners” ahead of the winter months.
Tice said: “I think this Labour Government have got no idea how to create growth, and no idea actually how to protect pensioners.
“They seem to view pensioners as people that they can dismiss, and want to boost the salaries of already well-paid train drivers and other union unionised public sector workers instead.
“Everybody wants a pay rise. But guess what? In the world of business, it comes with a requirement for performance-related productivity improvements. There’s none of that from the Labour Party.”
Richard Tice said the Labour Party have ‘no idea’ what needs to be done for Britain
GB News
Turning the discussion to Nigel Farage ahead of the Reform UK Party conference, Tice was quizzed on whether the Reform leader is right to not hold in-person surgeries in his constituency of Clacton, through fear of being attacked.
Tice said of Farage’s decision: “Sadly, we saw just within the first ten days of Nigel’s campaigning in the General Election, two attacks on him.
“That has to be taken very, very seriously, and that’s why Nigel is making those important decisions.”
