PENSIONER anger erupted at Labour as government figures conceded that 100,000 older people risk being pushed into poverty by the cut in winter fuel payments.

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) renewed demands that ministers do a U-turn on the controversial cut, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves shortly after assuming office.

NPC general secretary Jan Shortt said she was “gravely concerned” by figures included in an analysis revealed by the Department for Work and Pensions this week.

These showed that the removal of the benefit will plunge around 50,000 pensioners into relative poverty next year, and the same number again by the end of the decade.

Ms Shortt said: “We find it completely unacceptable that an extra 50,000 to 100,000 older people will fall into poverty as a result of the decision to means-test the winter fuel payment.

“The message to older people is that the government is happy to accept them as collateral damage. The government must know these older people are not the ‘broadest shoulders’ they keep saying must pay to fix the economic deficit.

“If this is how the government treats its older generation, then we seriously question their integrity, compassion and moral judgement,” she added.

The revelation came as snow started falling across the country – but prices started rising again.

Inflation was up to 2.3 per cent, official figures revealed, with experts predicting it could head still higher, leading to loud exchanges in the House of Commons.

Tory shadow cabinet member Alex Burghart tried to make hay, claiming “high tax, high inflation, low growth, low reform, there’s a word for that, it’s Starmerism.”

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, standing in for Keir Starmer who was on his way back from the G20 summit, pointed out that under the last Tory government annual inflation had peaked at over 11 per cent.

Most Labour MPs now privately concede that the winter fuel benefit cut was a blunder, with the Treasury bouncing a rookie Chancellor into a move that is causing political damage out of all proportion to the money saved.

The issue is likely to become still more toxic as winter draws in and older people postpone putting on their heating. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has vowed to reverse the cut if the party wins the 2026 elections for the Scottish parliament, piling further pressure on Reeves and Starmer.