Facts4EU and GB News team up to bring you news Sir Keir may not want his MPs to hear

While the PM was sorting out his VIP concert tickets, we looked at the long, cold winter for the elderly

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

From free Taylor Swift VIP concert tickets, to killing the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners

In his decision to cut off help for the elderly with their fuel costs this winter, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has stirred up a hornet’s nest. This has happened just as his personal polling ratings with the public are plunging, and as revelations continue to surface about the value of free gifts he has received and not properly declared.

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This article concerns the importance of a healthy democracy

Many pensioners across the country are very unhappy about the unexpected abolition of the Winter Fuel Allowance for millions and some are organising themselves to fight back. With the excellent Martin Daubney of GB News, Facts4EU and CIBUK teamed up to put some light on what might prove to be a long, cold – and potentially life-threatening - winter for many.

All Labour MPs either abstained or voted to kill Winter Fuel Allowances for the elderly

GB News asked us to look at the vulnerability of many of these (mostly new) Labour MPs to a backlash from the elderly vote. We analysed the detailed general election results by constituency, as well as the vote on the Winter Fuel Allowance, and prepared two videos which were aired by GB News on Monday. (See below.)

There are 50 Labour MPs who are highly vulnerable, with majorities of less than 2,500 and who all voted to kill the Winter Fuel Allowance for the elderly. They range from Noah Law, the new MP for St Austell and Newquay in the South-West on a majority of 2470, to David Pinto-Duschinsky in Hendon in London on just 15. In amongst these is none other than our new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, whose majority in the 2024 election plummeted to just 528 votes.

Video 1 – Vulnerable Ministers and other members of the Government team with low majorities

The transcript, for those unable to watch and listen:

“Here we go on our GBN, Facts4EU and CIBUK whirlwind tour of the UK’s shakiest parliamentary seats. Hold onto your hats as we show you just how vulnerable the Labour MPs who voted to kill Winter Fuel Allowances really are to a ‘Pensioners’ Revolt’. On this map, Labour MPs who voted to kill the Winter Fuel Allowance are marked in red.
“In this first video we’ll look at Ministers and other members of the Government team with low majorities.
“Let’s start with Cabinet Minister Wes Streeting in Ilford North. Unfortunately for the Secretary for Health his majority isn’t that healthy, at only 528. If only 265 angry pensioners switched, his seat would be in the intensive care ward.
“Staying in the London area we zoom over to Bethnal Green and Stepney to find Rushanara Ali, Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness, on a majority of under 1700.
“Up the M40 to Birmingham here’s the flimsy 700 vote majority won by Women & Girls Minister Jess Phillips in Birmingham Yardley.
“Finally across to Wales, where Under Secretary of State Nia Griffith will have to defend a 1500 majority in Llanelli at the next election.”

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VIDEO 2 – MPs are vulnerable across the country, from Scotland to Cornwall

The transcript, for those unable to watch and listen:

“Continuing our whirlwind GBN tour of the country here we are in Scotland, where the new Stirling and Strathallan MP Chris Kane beat the SNP with a majority of less than 1400. Despite this he was another who voted to kill the Winter Fuel Allowance, as was…
“Anna Gelderd at the other end of the country in South East Cornwall, with a majority only slightly better at 1911.
“It’s the same story across the country. In Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North here’s Liam Byrne, who has held numerous cabinet, ministerial, and shadow cabinet positions at top level. Yet he will have to defend a majority of less than 1600.
“Next we zoom up to the Derbyshire Dales where John Whitby scraped home by just 350 votes. It’s constituencies like these where voters may be very unlikely to forget and forgive.
“Finally we head North-East to Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland where it’s even tighter. Only 214 votes got Labour’s Luke Myer over the line in the general election. It won’t take many disgruntled and angry pensioners to topple him.”

The charts Labour MPs might not wish to see

Below are the charts we produced as part of our work for GB News, showing the vulnerability of significant parts of Labour’s apparent strength in the House of Commons. In each case we show Labour MPs who voted to kill winter fuel payments, sorted by their majorities.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The vulnerability of Labour MPs to a ‘Pensioners’ Revolt’

1. The most vulnerable 50 – majorities all less than 2,500

2. Labour MPs with majorities between 2,500 and 6,000

A further 94 MPs have majorities of between 2,500 and 6,000, from Chris Vince in Harlow in Essex, to Andrew Ranger in Wrexham in Wales.

Labour’s current majority : 174 seats

Labour’s general election victory masked some dramatic plunges in support in many constituencies

To put our tables above into context, many Labour MPs suffered dramatic drops in their majorities in the 2024 general election, despite still holding onto their seats. Below we cite five examples of names who may be known to readers. Three are Cabinet Ministers and two hold other ministerial offices.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The plunging majorities of Government Ministers

Wes Streeting, Ilford North, Secretary of State for Health - Majority fell from 5,198 to 528, a drop of 4,670 votes.
Shabana Mahmood, Birmingham Ladywood, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice - Majority fell from 28,582 to 3,421, a drop of 25,293 votes.
Lucy Powell, Manchester Central, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council – Majority fell from 29,089 to 13,797, a drop of 15,292 votes.
Jim McMahon, Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution – Majority fell from 11,127 to 4,976, a drop of 6,151 votes.
Jess Phillips, Birmingham Yardley, Under Secretary of State for safeguarding women and girls - Majority fell from 10,659 to 694, a drop of 9,965 votes.

Observations

Sir Keir and the gifts list which keeps on giving

In stark contrast to the plight of the UK’s elderly who are facing a winter without the customary fuel allowances, the media continues to highlight the £100,000+ value of gifts received by the Prime Minister, as well as more gifts received by other members of his Cabinet and government team.

The killing of the Winter Fuel Allowance also has to be set against the backdrop of massive pay rises for the likes of train drivers and junior doctors. In addition, in three reports we have shown how the public sector as a whole and the Civil Service in particular has grown substantially over the past 10 years.

The public sector keeps growing regardless

On the same day that (mostly Labour) MPs voted to cut winter fuel payments from around 10 million pensioners, the Office for National Statistics released its latest data for the size of the public sector. This shows that the headcount for those paid out of the public purse rose yet again in the last 12 months by 116,000.

This brings the total increase over the past five years to 545,000 extra people (+10.1%) being employed in the public sector. The overall headcount is now just shy of 5.5 million.

And ‘the elite’ Civil Service still grows and puts majority of staff on senior pay grades

In amongst the total public sector workforce is the Civil Service, numbering 542,840 staff. In our two-part report on the Service we revealed the growth in its number of personnel as well as the way in which it has promoted so many of its staff into higher salary bands.

With this accelerating growth in the cost of the public sector it is hardly surprising the elderly are feeling as if they are bottom of the pecking order when it comes to the new Labour Government’s priorities.

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[ Sources: Electoral Commission | House of Commons Library | GB News ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 20 Sept 2024

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Reader Comments 41

1. Sparky , Friday, September 20, 2024, 07:06:

Badly handled by Labour. Right wing media making hay with the story.
.
Flights and accommodation £32,836 to US to support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage.
.
Clacton on the World Stage!!!!

2. Old Albion , Friday, September 20, 2024, 07:47:

Removing the WFA was not in Labour's manifesto. Had it been they would have received an even lower share of the vote. In fact less than a year ago two-tier-freebie Keir was saying it should be maintained.
What does this tell us?
Answer: Politicians from the uni-party cannot be trusted. Who knew?
'Sparky' I just did a search and can find nothing to tell me where you got that figure. So who paid it?

3. terence patrick hewett , Friday, September 20, 2024, 08:12:

Reform UK are about to disembowel the Labour Party, just as they have eviscerated the Tory Party. Starmer is in power by virtue of Nigel Farage and he knows it. And what the lord giveth, the lord taketh away. Farage has three prime-ministerial scalps under his belt: in 2029 it will be four.

4. Ashley Great Britain , Friday, September 20, 2024, 08:53:

Apart from everything else that Labour are splurging money on, They are hemorrhaging millions daily on supporting illigal immigrants, Many of which have no intention of working and contributing to British society.
How do you think that alone looks to the average working person. Senior British citizens who have contributed for many decades should be on top of the pile. We presume freegearkier will hope this all blows over in a year or two. Roll on a Reform uk landslide, The uk's only hope.

5. NH , Friday, September 20, 2024, 08:55:

The Labour Party are showing their political naivety. This is not just about OAP's who they believe don't vote Labour. These OAP's also have children and grandchildren who may strongly resent this if the believe the Labour Party are behaving unfairly.
.
1. Sparky, "Flights and accommodation £32,836 to US"
David Lammy, from the party you voted for, chartered a private jet to fly to Israel at a cost of £10,000 per hour only to find that Israel refused to meet with him because of all the stupid public comments he made before the meeting. Nigel Farage has a very strong relationship with a presidential candidate. I believe Nigel Farage's trip is far more valuable to the British public than David Lammy's expensive waste of time.

6. Sparky , Friday, September 20, 2024, 10:00:

5 NH. You’ve sited another badly handled example. There all as bad as each other, remember the expenses that were “within the rules!”
.
But re Farage if he’s so concerned about visiting his nutcase friend, why have someone else pay for it?

7. LuxuryBalloon , Friday, September 20, 2024, 10:06:

The £131 billion the UK government spend on pensioners benefits in 2023-24 represents 11.3 per cent of total public spending and 5.1 per cent of GDP. Everyone, but the pensioners, realise this is unsustainable.

8. Gazzablack , Friday, September 20, 2024, 11:09:

7, LB
.
Then I guess we should abolish the state pension on the day before you become eligible to claim yours.
.
Simples..

9. Gazzablack , Friday, September 20, 2024, 11:36:

If the government advertises for the role of Government food taster, don't apply.
It's not worth the risk.

10. LuxuryBalloon , Friday, September 20, 2024, 12:02:

8 Gazza … why wait for my retirement to abolish the ponzi scheme? Your current state pension is paid for by my current national insurance contributions. State pensions should not be triple locked but should depend on the current total national insurance contributions available. If the annual national insurance pot is shrinking while the percentage of UK pensioners is increasing … the state pension should also decrease.

41 comments, page 1 of 5

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