Rishi Sunak accuses PM of ‘hiding’ impact of winter fuel payment cuts

Rishi Sunak has accused the prime minister of “refusing to admit or to publish the consequences of his decision” to means-test winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Sunak repeatedly urge the government to publish an impact assessment of the move, which is set to take the allowance from all but the poorest pensioners.

The Conservative leader asked: “We know why he’s hiding the impact assessment. The Labour Party’s own previous analysis claimed that this policy could cause 3850 deaths. So are the numbers in his impact assessment higher or lower than that?”

Keir Starmer responded that he has taken the decision to “stabilise the economy”.

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