Anas Sarwar is “right” to distance himself from Sir Keir Starmer over the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for most pensioners, Baroness Davidson has said.
The Scottish Labour leader has promised to go against the national party and reintroduce the universal winter fuel payment for pensioners if elected to Holyrood in 2026.
The Tory peer told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that while it was politically “necessary” for Mr Sarwar to disassociate himself from the Westminster policy, people in Scotland “can see it for what it is”.
“People in Scotland are pretty sophisticated,” she said. “They can see it for what it is.
“They know that 35 Scottish Labour MPs voted to take Granny’s winter fuel allowance away, and then you’ve got the leader of Scottish Labour saying, ‘Don’t listen to my 35 MPs – if in 18 months’ time you give us your vote, we might give some of you that money back’.”
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Shortly after winning the UK-wide general election, Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the winter fuel payment would now be means tested.
Instead of every pensioner getting up to £300, only those entitled to certain benefits will get the stipend – thought to be around 1.3 million households, compared to 7.6 million before.
Ministers have insisted the decision was necessary in order to fill the £22bn “black hole” in the public finances they claim they inherited from the previous Conservative government.
Before this announcement was made, the plan in Scotland – where benefits are devolved – was to replace the payment with a like-for-like scheme.
However, the SNP-run Scottish government has since said it needs to means test the new programme as a consequence of the UK’s policy.
Earlier this week Mr Sarwar said universal payments for pensioners would be introduced if he takes over in two years’ time – although they would eventually be tapered so those with the money to pay do not get subsidised by the taxpayer.
“A Scottish Labour government will reinstate the winter fuel payment for pensioners in Scotland,” he said.
“The winter fuel payment was supposed to be a devolved benefit this year and there were additional resources available to the Scottish government through the household support fund.
“That meant we could have taken a different approach in Scotland to support more households this year – instead, the SNP decided to hand the power back to the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions].”
He added: “Scottish Labour will take back this devolved power from the DWP, reinstate the winter fuel payment, and deliver a fairer system to ensure that everyone who needs support gets it.”
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Baroness Harman, Labour’s former deputy leader, told the podcast that Mr Sarwar’s decision over the winter fuel payments was the “reality of devolution”.
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“Anas Sarwar can say, ‘I’m not going to be under the thumb of the Labour government in Westminster’,” she said.
“This is the reality of devolution. He can say, ‘I will make choices which I think are better for Scotland’… but he’ll have to then work out if he can take it away from the extremely rich people, or if he’s not going to take it away from extremely rich people, how he justifies that.
“I think Keir will be very relaxed about this. He’s very close politically to Anas Sarwar. They’ve worked well together and this is the positive of showing devolution.”
