Union Leader Sharon Graham Forces Labour Conference Vote
‘Over a million pensioners who are set to lose access to their winter fuel payments once means-testing is implemented are already in poverty.’
By Tayyaba Taimur, LLB Law 28/10/2024
During the annual Labour Party conference which took place in Liverpool from the 22nd to the 25th of September 2024, a clash occurred between the Labour party and several notable trade unions including Unite, in response to the Labour government’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments for pensioners. This resulted in the leader of Unite, Sharon Graham, directly challenging Labour’s decision, calling and winning a Labour membership vote against the policy.
A means-tested winter fuel payment refers to a type of benefit that is only received by people who meet specific financial criteria. This is in contrast to universalist approaches to welfare such as public services, in which (almost) everyone is given access to support; or the previous winter fuel payment plan, in which all pensioners receive winter fuel payments as opposed to just those who meet certain conditions, or ‘means-tests.’ While means-testing is often defended on the grounds of economic efficiency and reducing unnecessary spending - as only cutting financial support from those who do not need it - this may not be the actual impact of the decision to means-test winter fuel payments. According to the charity Age UK, over a million pensioners who are set to lose access to their winter fuel payments once means-testing is implemented are already in poverty.
Sharon Graham, general-secretary of the trade union Unite, labelled Labour’s decision as a notable ‘mis-step;’ and claimed that it failed to protect the wellbeing of pensioners. Graham criticised the Labour party’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments, presented as a response to a claimed £22 billion budget shortfall caused by the previous government’s economic decisions. The policy was projected to result in 10 million pensioners being affected, a significant majority of the just-over 12 million people who receive the state pension.
The vote forced by Graham was non-binding, and as such the means-testing policy has not been reversed, but the vote reflects a significant divide in key political and economic issues between the Labour leadership, the unions which form part of the party apparatus, and the wider membership. Trade unions have historically been a key aid in garnering support for the Labour party, with Unite contributing up to £362,625 in 2024 alone, while another prominent trade union GMB donated £290,125 to the Labour party in 2024.
Since Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour party’s policy has shifted from a more universalist approach to welfare under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to one focusing on, according to Starmer, ‘taking seriously the foundations of economic responsibility,’ centred around growth and opposed to high public spending. Starmer and other Labour ministers, in defending the decision to means-test the winter fuel payments, have said that the party is willing to make ‘difficult decisions’ to fix the economic problems they inherited from the previous government. However, opponents of the policy including Sharon Graham have called it ‘cruel,’ and in several interviews, Keir Starmer and his spokespeople admitted that there had been no impact assessment carried out on how the policy would actually affect pensioners and their living standards or ability to afford heating.