I'm a pensioner (only just) but given that I am part of the richest demographic in the UK, and am demonstrably richer than my kids, why in God's name should I get a heating allowance and free public transport ? I have benefited from cheap housing, the best period of health care, welfare benefits, social infrastructure, and generous pensions. How can old people complain when their children are struggling to feed and clothe their grandchildren ?
Amen. I'm a decade younger. My house cost $450k when I earned $90k. (Central Auckland suburb.) Now it's worth triple that, but I can't earn $270k. And certainly not the "me" of 20 years ago.
@@Norman-j7m We have a similar scheme. I was on a bus a few years back when a pensioner got on ten minutes early. The driver told him he'd have to wait for the next one. He refused to exit the bus, sat down and said "I'll get my ticket from you in ten minutes time." On the other hand, a woman sat down beside me on another trip. I asked her about the card and she said "I live alone, can't afford a car and without this I'd hardly ever leave the house."
Brian, I agree. There are two separate issues though, one is the concept of means testing payments and the other is the threshold. I absolutely agree that the majority of pensioners who are wealthy as a generation should not be getting more money when so many children are in poverty. There is an argument that the Pension Credit threshold should be raised slightly. No pensioner is going to get less as the Triple lock is raising the basic state pension by more than the Winter Fuel Payment was worth.
People getting the old rate of the oap have part pension + part serps, the pension will rise 4.7 the serps only 1.7 they are falling further behind every year
Why can’t they stagger the fuel payment, if you’re 19p over you lose 19p- if you are £20 over you lose 20 - or something similar.otherwise it’s not fair at all
I've seen thisvtype issues for the last many years in Denmark. You won't get anything fair from a labour government as no kne is from the social democrats here.
The DWP know exactly how much every pensioner is receiving the WFP could have been implemented so much better. Many will freeze this winter and the payment has been withdrawn from every body.
I, like your first caller, am disappointed that more of the pensioners that don't need it chose not to return or abstain from receiving it but I'd rather the vulnerable ones didn't slip through the net to be perfectly honest. The second caller may not get it but could apply for Attendance Allowance. If he's awarded AA then he'll get PC - it's not an easy benefit with clearcut guidelines imo. I think the chap from Lee-on-the-Solent had a great idea - because the fact is many older people don't apply for AA or PC, the forms are fairly complicated and focus on negative things so invariably go under claimed.
The decision to hit those who are already financially challenged should not be considered inevitable, they shouldn’t be anywhere near considering taking from anyone in that position. We do need to bring more money into the public purse and to do so we should hit the most furthest away from the poverty line and work towards it not start at the poverty line and work up! It’s a mindset that needs reversing.
FYI the winter energy payment in NZ goes for five months, and it's $20 p/w if you live alone and $30 if you don't. (Paid per household.) It's not means-tested, and not just for super-annuitants.
I live where I see pensioners like Ray all the time, I don’t live in an area where pensioners drive around in a Porche. So sorry Ray if you read this try and get someone to fill in the forms for you take care x
So better way would be to do it progressively. Any amount above the threshold would be deducted from the winter fuel allowance, so someone breaching it by 0.01 pound wouldn’t be affected. They figured this out with taxes, they can also do it with this.
Drawing a line always creates division. Just give it to everyone and recoup it in taxes. Those who don't need it get a tax raise. Problem solved. But no. It has to be a game with peoples lives.
What sort of country do we live in when politicians no longer value or respect the elderly. And NO I'm not a pensioner but a working tax payer who values our older generation
Pensioners have enjoyed a triple lock, which is basically protection for the most vulnerable pensioners. The rest of the working age population in the same period have long suffered real terms pay stalling and increasing poverty along with a reducing welfare state, with increasing means testing with stricter measures, that has meant food bank use ballooning.
Don’t you realise how low the pension and all benefits are, the fact they changed the pension to a benefit anyway is a joke, labour supports all these Tory policy’s, had they decided to tax Amazon, google ect there would be plenty of money
I say this and it isn’t an anti capitalist sentiment, that isn’t where I’m coming from personally, do with that what you will… A lot of people have been and will continue to suffer for a few people (relatively) to prosper and we’ve reached a point in our collective history where things are only going to get worse unless we enact severe and sudden change The demographics and zones that are sacrificed in order to maintain our status quo is continuing to grow - and since those on top only measure, year on year, a success based on continual growth…you can see quite quickly that either the elastic snaps or more and more people will need to be sacrificed It breaks my heart to hear Bens story, and I know of even affluent young people, the next generation, suffering with the weight of the world and the impossibility of change Yes, in some ways they suffer comfortably but should they suffer at all? I don’t think so Things could be very different but it would require a small minority at the top to allow change --and it seems to be beyond them
Mate, only sheep call people sheep ffs. That's a well-known thing, has been since Covid. It's like the Hipster when it became mainstream, or woke when it got mislabelled as LGBT instead of media awareness.
@ I’m talking about literal sheep and expanding the use of wool home insulation to both support farmers and improve energy efficiency…… maybe be a bit less jumpy to perceive an insult.
@@Dontreallycare5 I got your meaning. 🙂 I've also heard of system where something akin to papier mache (with old newspapers?) is used to pipe into walls for extra insulation. And polystyrene under the floor boards. - Andrew in NZ.
that poor chap in sheltered accommodation, preventable death should be a crime shame on starmer. I really don't like Labour's winter fuel payment cut joke headline.
Why are you talking about sarwar, he’s not in power and the SNP give more to people who need it, Plus sarwar has done nothing the branch manager in Scotland hasn’t even got a say in what happens, if labour get into power in Scotland they will implement every Westminster labour policy to bring us in line
Welcome to free market capitalism, something we've been told by the right wing for decades is such an amazing thing that benefits all and not just those who already have everything! I guess you're all for market reform and more regulation and a more progressive taxation policy then? Oh look, the farmers inheritance tax is exactly one of those things!
Has an live long Labour voter. I an very disappointed with Labour so far. Hope before the next election they sort things out or my vote will go to Liberal Democrats
Labour are having to continue some of the cruelty of the last shower because of how monumentally they stuffed everything up. You literally wrote the book on how they did it, and even you've said you were shocked at how it was even worse than you imagined. This is like trying to rebuild the house after it's collapsed because of dry rot and damp, and also happens to be on fire from the foundations up. The last time it was this bad was after the war.
Why can't the billionaire unelected royal supported mostly by freezing pensioners give them some of their billions for heating as they are lounging around in their well heated and funded castles LOK
Who writes this stuff, bots? ‘Pensioners’ are everyone from Richard Branson to a poverty stricken war veteran reliant on food banks they’re not a homogeneous group.
Excuse me if I am being ignorant, but the pensioners that are struggling as it is, would £200 for pensioners under 80 and £300 for pensioners over 80 really make that much difference with the cost of living?
It comes as a lump sum and psychologically taking anything away so quickly is always going to cause a backlash. A decent amount of pensioners will likely have the ability to deal with it IMO. Some will need help and I’m hoping they find it
I went to school in Manchester and they didn't teach us about the Peterloo Massacre. I had to find out about it on a holiday to Dublin of all places during a tour around Kilmainham Gaol. The guide recognised our accents and wove the oppressive actions with the tour about how the British crown didn't want any kind of dissent at home after what had happened on the continent with Napoleon. A number of people who were in that prison were there for similar reasons. It's a fantastic and intriguing place to visit by the way, very humbling and a very different take of British history from the other side of what is generally taught in British schools. I have no idea if things are more critical of the Empire now than 20 odd years ago, I'd like to hope so.
It is important when travelling through Europe to tell people there that Brexit was thought up in London, arranged and instigated there! London has long been the rotten core of Britain!
No because they wouldn't want to buy farms anymore because their isn't the same tax loophole incentive. If you don't want the wealthy buying up farmland you should support this.
They are probably working out Ben's entitlement based on what he had _last_ year, before he cashed in his other pensions to look after his parents. {:o:O:}
I agree with the first caller that the Tories already did this and pensioners were already dying of cold at winter because of the tax thresholds being frozen and the rate of the state pension rises due to the triple lock. Labour have just made the decision that the Tories have kicked into the long grass for years as they wanted to maintain the grey vote. Yes they have gotten the thresholds wrong, as I trust Martin Lewis and government should have consulted with him especially with his pension credit campaign which he has been on for years.
You could easily do tapered allowances based on council tax bands (which would also include the single person discount information). This would be more simple to apply but that would require a government and civil service with working brains.
James, George was telling you that the arts/performing arts funding was cut in 2011 in favour of STEM and you cut him off saying it was off topic. It is so on topic that I was shouting at my speakers. These trips cost money that working class people don't have. Poor kids are left out of loads of stuff at school because they can't afford it. Anything arts related costs money. It's the same as the sports argument from the other day: sports clubs and access to sports costs money.
They were mugs that believed what the Politicians told them their whole lives..Unfortunately,life is not a rehearsal and they are now finding this out too late…Sad. Tragic even.
Why are British pensioners demonised? Who's been working hard to provide for British families? The roads are ghastly and the towns are crumbling but the population of non contributing people are cramming into a little island which has a bigger population than France?
This is a genuine question, but if they've been 'working hard to provide for British families', why don't they have a better pension? I'm in my 30s, self employed and organising and paying into my pension and have been for years, why didn't they do this?
I often wonder what % of pensioners don't pay rent or have a mortgage...what do they do with their pensions each month? Edit - my retired parents live in a nice area of East Sussex where none of their friends have had a mortgage or paid rent in years so I know it isn't a fair picture.
1 million a pop for shadow storm missiles to Ukraine but no money for elderly people to heat their homes. This government should be ashamed of themselves and the mortality of these people over the winter is their responsibility. They are just as cruel as the Tory gov. Two party system needs to end and politicians need to be regulated just as teachers and doctors are
Don't forget £30bn on net zero, £21bn on carbon capture, £12bn on foreign aid, £8million a day for boats and yet a mere £1.2bn to stop the elderly freezing is too much.
The new Labour Party don't seem to care about the fringes like pensioners and those suffering with things like the bedroom tax and child poverty but al least we got a tax on farmers that's not so harsh...
There's many Laura's. Women suddenly had their retirement ages changed a few years ago too. They thought they would be retiring at sixty and suddenly that changed.
@@rorykellett3122on average women live two years longer than men so if you want equal rights then I guess the men retirement age for state pensions should be two years earlier than for men. And everyone can technically retire from their mid 50s. Many semi retire and work part time like hours for a long time until close to end of life.
Pensioners think they’ve earned it so the idea of applying for it would literally cause some to enable their own suffering because they are too proud. That’s definitely a thing
Before I watch these can a UK person explain to me winter fuel payment cuts? I am American and not sure what that means? Unless its just addressed and I will listen to have a better understanding.
There is a provision for those unable to afford the very high (energy cost went up by over 50%) cost of energy. The winter fuel payment is a term that covers a number of applicable areas, mainly to do with those in receipt of social security (welfare). A yearly payment of around £300 pound was made universally to pensioners across the income spectrum. Labour have (very poorly) tried to target those who are very wealthy who were in receipt of the payment.
@@mickreaddin4979 that is wild to me as a American where all of us are used to getting our areas hit "food, water/electric, gas, " all paying same costs. Including those on social security. That it is a deal buster for this. But don't know what you are going through but appreciate the explanation. Guess we are all in the same boat trying to figure out a way forward. But will say complaints on a tax while in the USA makes me less empathetic on this.
@@mickreaddin4979 Again thank you for the explanation. In USA there are very few stopgaps about how tax credits, additional financial aid (us term for elderly, social security is done, medical whole other beast, etc is done) including state laws. But again pension outside of primary multi billion company ceo has been degraded to exclude working class at this point in the USA is a far fetched dream
@@davidbeck4929 We had a social security that made me proud. Unfortunately over the years (especially the last 14yrs) it has been eroded, made more complicated and much more punitive led. Alas our new (Labour) government seem as determined to scapegoat those in receipt of social security in much the same way as the previous Tory government.
How feasible for the government to have a better handle on people's finances???? Jimbo loves planting these little seeds of thought. I immediately thought of CBDC's. "No one will slip through the net with CBDC's, all who need financial help will get it" (or not) will be next out of his mouth!🙄
I've just decided that land should not be owned by any private person. It should be owned by everybody, i.e. the state. All farmers would then be tenant farmers. The state would then lease all land at very low rates for it to be used by all land users in a way that suits the country.
They could make it like in Sweden where if you buy farm land, it MUST be USED as farm land, or some other kind of social benefit like housing, energy production etc. Not just as some rich person or companies investment that literally sits there doing nothing but gaining value or as a means to avoid taxes.
Ohhh socialism 😂 But who cares.. I think the big problem with current ideology is this obsession with owning property to be seen as successful. It’s just about status symbols more than anything else. The reason we have such obscene housing costs is because of this obsession probably.
Those impacted will complain about any tax rise or benefit cut. We have just got to let labour get on with it. The country is bankrupt, it will take decades of pain to put public finances back on track.
Everyone forgave the tories for wasting £9.5 billion of tax payers money on useless PPE during the pandemic so the ‘declared’ ‘thousands ‘ of Starmers expences account is peanuts and also legal
@@HelenBain-th9nm not sure how you can say everyone forgave the tories for wasting money on useless PPE. I didn’t forgive them and I don’t know anyone that that did or does. I’m not so sure Starmer declared the gifts, not expenses without him realising the press had found out about several gifts he received. Gifts that he shouldn’t have accepted in many people’s opinion. He accepted around £110,000 worth of gifts for things like clothing, designer spectacles, private box at Arsenal football club, gifts of clothing for his wife to name but a few. And while he’s on a very decent Salary he’s accepting gifts then cutting pensioners winter fuel allowance. No wonder he ended up giving most of the gifts back and making it clear to the public he won’t make that mistake ( his words ) again. So it’s the acceptance of gifts that upset and angered a lot of people not expenses. What expenses do you mean please ?
@@chindit6784 you are correct there, but hundreds of thousands of us hadn't applied for it. Once people do then they may get it. It's a massive form to fill in.
Migrants can't even vote. Only people from Ireland and the Commonwealth can. You've been watching too much Amercian news, our elections are completely different.
@ that is excluding fees for appearances on other shows and his book sales. He clears a million a year and remember lives in a £multimillion house. As does Corbyn.
@@julian987r4 You sure? Still seems incorrect. JOB does closer to 200 episodes per annum. Doesn't he? Which drops it to under 2k per show. I'm not trying to take away from your wider point, though.
The handling of this winter fuel payment has been idiotic. Here's how you implement it: - everyone continues to get it, as before (no bureaucracy added) - on annual taxes, there is a tiny new section added for a winter fuel payment _repayment_ - above a certain level, you repay the whole amount - below a certain level, you repay zero - in between, a calculation is used to determine how much you repay This way, it is equitable, and you don't have issues where arbitrary cutoffs create unfairness, and it makes use of existing revenue/tax bureaucracy, so no additional cost there.
@@TalesOfWar I think you misunderstand. You already pay your revenue service to take care of enforcement. They review tax returns all the time. If there's an error, they catch it and you have to pay more or receive more back. The point is, you already have a bureaucracy in place to handle this.
Elephant in the room. STATE PENSIONS SHOULD BE MEANS TESTED. If you have a final salary NHS or LGSP pension, why should you be entitled to the full state pension? The above is an example, there are more examples i could use.
Wow people who are loaded farmer paying a tiny inheritance tax I have been an accountant for years they are very high earners grow products get money to grow them and as fir Clarkson he's loaded yet people who are skint no one cares universal credit is a joke especially since labour lowered it yet people are feeling sorry for farmers massive earners massive assets guaranteed job nepotism the world has gone mad farmers driving tractors worth the price of a house REDICULOUS
So many pensioners living pure misery. How can this be justified. 1 oap in poverty is 1 too many.
1 person living on the street is 1 too meny, but such a suggestion is unlikely to make it reality.
@@danielrosen1541this isn’t about homeless. But yes I agree.
I'm a pensioner (only just) but given that I am part of the richest demographic in the UK, and am demonstrably richer than my kids, why in God's name should I get a heating allowance and free public transport ? I have benefited from cheap housing, the best period of health care, welfare benefits, social infrastructure, and generous pensions. How can old people complain when their children are struggling to feed and clothe their grandchildren ?
Amen. I'm a decade younger. My house cost $450k when I earned $90k. (Central Auckland suburb.) Now it's worth triple that, but I can't earn $270k. And certainly not the "me" of 20 years ago.
@@Norman-j7m We have a similar scheme. I was on a bus a few years back when a pensioner got on ten minutes early. The driver told him he'd have to wait for the next one. He refused to exit the bus, sat down and said "I'll get my ticket from you in ten minutes time."
On the other hand, a woman sat down beside me on another trip. I asked her about the card and she said "I live alone, can't afford a car and without this I'd hardly ever leave the house."
Brian, I agree. There are two separate issues though, one is the concept of means testing payments and the other is the threshold. I absolutely agree that the majority of pensioners who are wealthy as a generation should not be getting more money when so many children are in poverty. There is an argument that the Pension Credit threshold should be raised slightly.
No pensioner is going to get less as the Triple lock is raising the basic state pension by more than the Winter Fuel Payment was worth.
@@PleiadesImprezaT2000AWD-l4lNot for most of us. Only for those on the new pension. For many of us it won’t replace the loss of the WFA.
@@PleiadesImprezaT2000AWD-l4lthe triple lock is to defeat the cost of living rises next year.
Sorry no, I’m not up for paying for my Landlord’s winter fuel payment thanks
People getting the old rate of the oap have part pension + part serps, the pension will rise 4.7 the serps only 1.7 they are falling further behind every year
Why can’t they stagger the fuel payment, if you’re 19p over you lose 19p- if you are £20 over you lose 20 - or something similar.otherwise it’s not fair at all
Agreed. Doesn't seem that hard.
Very expensive to administer. Cheaper to give universal payment than means testing
I've seen thisvtype issues for the last many years in Denmark. You won't get anything fair from a labour government as no kne is from the social democrats here.
The DWP know exactly how much every pensioner is receiving the WFP could have been implemented so much better. Many will freeze this winter and the payment has been withdrawn from every body.
No it hasn't !!
Why don't you get a fact or two before posting uninformed comments. Start by Googling "Means tested"
The new, generous pensioner is only for one third of all pensioners. Two thirds get fifty pounds a week less.
What's he on about??
I, like your first caller, am disappointed that more of the pensioners that don't need it chose not to return or abstain from receiving it but I'd rather the vulnerable ones didn't slip through the net to be perfectly honest.
The second caller may not get it but could apply for Attendance Allowance. If he's awarded AA then he'll get PC - it's not an easy benefit with clearcut guidelines imo.
I think the chap from Lee-on-the-Solent had a great idea - because the fact is many older people don't apply for AA or PC, the forms are fairly complicated and focus on negative things so invariably go under claimed.
The decision to hit those who are already financially challenged should not be considered inevitable, they shouldn’t be anywhere near considering taking from anyone in that position.
We do need to bring more money into the public purse and to do so we should hit the most furthest away from the poverty line and work towards it not start at the poverty line and work up!
It’s a mindset that needs reversing.
@@donnahussain1706 absolutely spot on
Those who really need it should be getting pension credit anyway. Their kids should tell them it’s not charity. It’s a right for poorer pensioners..
How about us on 19 pence over the threshold ? Pension credits can get you thousands more per year, not just WFA
Not very often I agree with James, but here it is. Well said, lad.
FYI the winter energy payment in NZ goes for five months, and it's $20 p/w if you live alone and $30 if you don't. (Paid per household.) It's not means-tested, and not just for super-annuitants.
I live where I see pensioners like Ray all the time, I don’t live in an area where pensioners drive around in a Porche. So sorry Ray if you read this try and get someone to fill in the forms for you take care x
So better way would be to do it progressively. Any amount above the threshold would be deducted from the winter fuel allowance, so someone breaching it by 0.01 pound wouldn’t be affected. They figured this out with taxes, they can also do it with this.
Drawing a line always creates division. Just give it to everyone and recoup it in taxes. Those who don't need it get a tax raise. Problem solved. But no. It has to be a game with peoples lives.
It's only 2 or 3 hundred once a year. You don't raise their tax for that.
If the government didn't waste or give away so many billions a year, they wouldn't have to put up tax
What sort of country do we live in when politicians no longer value or respect the elderly. And NO I'm not a pensioner but a working tax payer who values our older generation
Pensioners have enjoyed a triple lock, which is basically protection for the most vulnerable pensioners. The rest of the working age population in the same period have long suffered real terms pay stalling and increasing poverty along with a reducing welfare state, with increasing means testing with stricter measures, that has meant food bank use ballooning.
Bright line tests (for example, the woman who is 19p over) always creates disparities. Much better to have a graduated scale.
Don’t you realise how low the pension and all benefits are, the fact they changed the pension to a benefit anyway is a joke, labour supports all these Tory policy’s, had they decided to tax Amazon, google ect there would be plenty of money
I say this and it isn’t an anti capitalist sentiment, that isn’t where I’m coming from personally, do with that what you will…
A lot of people have been and will continue to suffer for a few people (relatively) to prosper and we’ve reached a point in our collective history where things are only going to get worse unless we enact severe and sudden change
The demographics and zones that are sacrificed in order to maintain our status quo is continuing to grow - and since those on top only measure, year on year, a success based on continual growth…you can see quite quickly that either the elastic snaps or more and more people will need to be sacrificed
It breaks my heart to hear Bens story, and I know of even affluent young people, the next generation, suffering with the weight of the world and the impossibility of change
Yes, in some ways they suffer comfortably but should they suffer at all? I don’t think so
Things could be very different but it would require a small minority at the top to allow change --and it seems to be beyond them
some people work and can't afford heating :/
why not just give the money straight to the energy companies?
So many sheep, so much wool - still couldn't be bothered to insulate your homes properly. Really baffles me from an outside perspective.
Mate, only sheep call people sheep ffs. That's a well-known thing, has been since Covid. It's like the Hipster when it became mainstream, or woke when it got mislabelled as LGBT instead of media awareness.
@ I’m talking about literal sheep and expanding the use of wool home insulation to both support farmers and improve energy efficiency…… maybe be a bit less jumpy to perceive an insult.
@@Dontreallycare5 I got your meaning. 🙂 I've also heard of system where something akin to papier mache (with old newspapers?) is used to pipe into walls for extra insulation. And polystyrene under the floor boards. - Andrew in NZ.
that poor chap in sheltered accommodation, preventable death should be a crime shame on starmer. I really don't like Labour's winter fuel payment cut joke headline.
Why are you talking about sarwar, he’s not in power and the SNP give more to people who need it, Plus sarwar has done nothing the branch manager in Scotland hasn’t even got a say in what happens, if labour get into power in Scotland they will implement every Westminster labour policy to bring us in line
And they have put up prices
Yes❤️🇨🇦❤️
The market is putting up prices.,
@@johnrussell3961 Allowed by politicians
@@orange1599-u1nand the alternative would be to set a price ceiling which definitely cause supply change issues.
Welcome to free market capitalism, something we've been told by the right wing for decades is such an amazing thing that benefits all and not just those who already have everything! I guess you're all for market reform and more regulation and a more progressive taxation policy then? Oh look, the farmers inheritance tax is exactly one of those things!
Just ask the Torries for the money, there is 350mm in savings laying around since Brexit
350 millilitres?
350 millimetres?
Has an live long Labour voter. I an very disappointed with Labour so far. Hope before the next election they sort things out or my vote will go to Liberal Democrats
They’ve lost the next election already. People resigned themselves to vote Labour this time around.
Labour are having to continue some of the cruelty of the last shower because of how monumentally they stuffed everything up. You literally wrote the book on how they did it, and even you've said you were shocked at how it was even worse than you imagined. This is like trying to rebuild the house after it's collapsed because of dry rot and damp, and also happens to be on fire from the foundations up. The last time it was this bad was after the war.
Don’t tell me you actually believe in the £20B black hole 😂
Okay uncle Albert 🙄
@@julian987r4 I'm sure if it didn't exist the Tories would have all the recipts to prove it.
@@julian987r4 There is a £20B black hole but it was created with the spending of the present government, not the last one.
@@julian987r4 it’s a fact. You can literally see it on official record. Maybe treat yourself to a new tinfoil hat
Why can't the billionaire unelected royal supported mostly by freezing pensioners give them some of their billions for heating as they are lounging around in their well heated and funded castles LOK
Pensioners are the RICHEST people in the country, paid for houses, guaranteed incomes, "never been in debt", THEY NEED TO PAY THEIR WAY
What all of them ?
Who writes this stuff, bots? ‘Pensioners’ are everyone from Richard Branson to a poverty stricken war veteran reliant on food banks they’re not a homogeneous group.
@@philipk9783 Yes the greedy old pigs
What about Ray?
I'll bet you, that there's more who can't afford their bills yhat are hidden numbers. They'll never tell you because they are too proud.
Excuse me if I am being ignorant, but the pensioners that are struggling as it is, would £200 for pensioners under 80 and £300 for pensioners over 80 really make that much difference with the cost of living?
It comes as a lump sum and psychologically taking anything away so quickly is always going to cause a backlash. A decent amount of pensioners will likely have the ability to deal with it IMO. Some will need help and I’m hoping they find it
Why don't you meet Martin Lewis and get actual figures . He may be able to advise desperate pensioners.
Say it with me James, "The bar is too low".
O'Brien is doing cartwheels when the pensioners are freezing to death fact
I went to school in Manchester and they didn't teach us about the Peterloo Massacre. I had to find out about it on a holiday to Dublin of all places during a tour around Kilmainham Gaol. The guide recognised our accents and wove the oppressive actions with the tour about how the British crown didn't want any kind of dissent at home after what had happened on the continent with Napoleon. A number of people who were in that prison were there for similar reasons. It's a fantastic and intriguing place to visit by the way, very humbling and a very different take of British history from the other side of what is generally taught in British schools. I have no idea if things are more critical of the Empire now than 20 odd years ago, I'd like to hope so.
He’s getting sacked in the morning
It is important when travelling through Europe to tell people there that Brexit was thought up in London, arranged and instigated there! London has long been the rotten core of Britain!
I do hope you get the help you need. Can’t be nice having something living in your head for 9 years . Let it go.
Russia might also have bolstered the Brexit.
If you really want to wind them up, you can also tell them that because of Brexit, the UK's economy is doing better than theirs
Vote Labour and let reality set in.
Any party trying to clean up the 14 years of Tory disaster would have to make unpopular devil !
I think that pensioners were perfectly happy to push children and families with children into poverty that they cry when it's done to them
How's that please
Not to mention National Service 😊
Ok you don't want farmers Who is going to be landowners that replace them? Bill Gates? Jeff Bezos?
Doubt it will be gates . He’s got a long prison sentence coming his way.
No ! Other more efficient farmers !!
No because they wouldn't want to buy farms anymore because their isn't the same tax loophole incentive. If you don't want the wealthy buying up farmland you should support this.
Raynor would be better in Reform
I haven't once mentioned that children are living in poverty ' Ok then !
They are probably working out Ben's entitlement based on what he had _last_ year, before he cashed in his other pensions to look after his parents.
{:o:O:}
I agree with the first caller that the Tories already did this and pensioners were already dying of cold at winter because of the tax thresholds being frozen and the rate of the state pension rises due to the triple lock.
Labour have just made the decision that the Tories have kicked into the long grass for years as they wanted to maintain the grey vote. Yes they have gotten the thresholds wrong, as I trust Martin Lewis and government should have consulted with him especially with his pension credit campaign which he has been on for years.
You could easily do tapered allowances based on council tax bands (which would also include the single person discount information). This would be more simple to apply but that would require a government and civil service with working brains.
James, George was telling you that the arts/performing arts funding was cut in 2011 in favour of STEM and you cut him off saying it was off topic. It is so on topic that I was shouting at my speakers. These trips cost money that working class people don't have. Poor kids are left out of loads of stuff at school because they can't afford it.
Anything arts related costs money. It's the same as the sports argument from the other day: sports clubs and access to sports costs money.
Why dont these pensioners not have better pensions? Did they not work? Did they not prepare?
They were mugs that believed what the Politicians told them their whole lives..Unfortunately,life is not a rehearsal and they are now finding this out too late…Sad. Tragic even.
Means testing costs the governs more money !
This isn't a Labour Government don't forget
Labour, not Scottish, it's Labour in Scotland ,absolute lies , from them , historical facts
Why are British pensioners demonised? Who's been working hard to provide for British families? The roads are ghastly and the towns are crumbling but the population of non contributing people are cramming into a little island which has a bigger population than France?
This is a genuine question, but if they've been 'working hard to provide for British families', why don't they have a better pension?
I'm in my 30s, self employed and organising and paying into my pension and have been for years, why didn't they do this?
Why are young people demonised? Disdabled? Unemployed?
O'Brien's father was a toolmaker look what tool he made
I often wonder what % of pensioners don't pay rent or have a mortgage...what do they do with their pensions each month? Edit - my retired parents live in a nice area of East Sussex where none of their friends have had a mortgage or paid rent in years so I know it isn't a fair picture.
Pay their bills. Buy their food. Heat their homes. Repair the roof or whatever else is needed. Run their car.
Same as everyone else really.
1 million a pop for shadow storm missiles to Ukraine but no money for elderly people to heat their homes. This government should be ashamed of themselves and the mortality of these people over the winter is their responsibility. They are just as cruel as the Tory gov. Two party system needs to end and politicians need to be regulated just as teachers and doctors are
Don't forget £30bn on net zero, £21bn on carbon capture, £12bn on foreign aid, £8million a day for boats and yet a mere £1.2bn to stop the elderly freezing is too much.
The new Labour Party don't seem to care about the fringes like pensioners and those suffering with things like the bedroom tax and child poverty but al least we got a tax on farmers that's not so harsh...
There's many Laura's. Women suddenly had their retirement ages changed a few years ago too. They thought they would be retiring at sixty and suddenly that changed.
Gotta change at for someone.
Equal rights at the end of the day. Welcome to the Club.
@@rorykellett3122I think we recognise that BUT enough warning was not given and that was wrong.
@@rorykellett3122on average women live two years longer than men so if you want equal rights then I guess the men retirement age for state pensions should be two years earlier than for men.
And everyone can technically retire from their mid 50s. Many semi retire and work part time like hours for a long time until close to end of life.
i don't think Ben has actually done enough to find out if he gets the fuel allowance. Just phoned up for a grumble if you ask me
Pensioners think they’ve earned it so the idea of applying for it would literally cause some to enable their own suffering because they are too proud. That’s definitely a thing
Isn't it about time you updated your thumbnail pic Jim lad - it's getting to the point at which it's hardly recognisable.
Before I watch these can a UK person explain to me winter fuel payment cuts? I am American and not sure what that means? Unless its just addressed and I will listen to have a better understanding.
Is it similar to increased energy costs by companies in the US during certain months?
There is a provision for those unable to afford the very high (energy cost went up by over 50%) cost of energy. The winter fuel payment is a term that covers a number of applicable areas, mainly to do with those in receipt of social security (welfare). A yearly payment of around £300 pound was made universally to pensioners across the income spectrum. Labour have (very poorly) tried to target those who are very wealthy who were in receipt of the payment.
@@mickreaddin4979 that is wild to me as a American where all of us are used to getting our areas hit "food, water/electric, gas, " all paying same costs. Including those on social security. That it is a deal buster for this. But don't know what you are going through but appreciate the explanation. Guess we are all in the same boat trying to figure out a way forward. But will say complaints on a tax while in the USA makes me less empathetic on this.
@@mickreaddin4979 Again thank you for the explanation. In USA there are very few stopgaps about how tax credits, additional financial aid (us term for elderly, social security is done, medical whole other beast, etc is done) including state laws. But again pension outside of primary multi billion company ceo has been degraded to exclude working class at this point in the USA is a far fetched dream
@@davidbeck4929 We had a social security that made me proud. Unfortunately over the years (especially the last 14yrs) it has been eroded, made more complicated and much more punitive led. Alas our new (Labour) government seem as determined to scapegoat those in receipt of social security in much the same way as the previous Tory government.
James looks like a hard drinker 😊
James we agree at last
You don't need anyone else to tell you not to take stuff James. You should know already
the thing i find disturbing when ever i hear how great andy burnham is. is how short memories most have mid staffs
And Tories are evil?
What a boring story at the start. Egotistical dangerous James o woke
what is the cut off limit after which you cannot claim pension credit?? please
218 per week
@@judithmorganjudyteen thank you
How feasible for the government to have a better handle on people's finances???? Jimbo loves planting these little seeds of thought. I immediately thought of CBDC's. "No one will slip through the net with CBDC's, all who need financial help will get it" (or not) will be next out of his mouth!🙄
Sir Jimmy Starmer couldn’t care less!
How embarrassing....
Yep how terrible the rich are losing money 😂
@@Thomas-kp8mono still making plenty off shore 😉
Hong Kong are right to jail him whilst they investigate him
I lost out by £2.00 on pension credit. I hope we survive this winter but doubt it. Labour are enabling pensioners to pass on. Shame on them.
Frighten the life out of pensioners then frighten the life out of farmer, Who would do that? The party that gave us years of austerity that's who!
The Tories?
I've just decided that land should not be owned by any private person. It should be owned by everybody, i.e. the state. All farmers would then be tenant farmers. The state would then lease all land at very low rates for it to be used by all land users in a way that suits the country.
They could make it like in Sweden where if you buy farm land, it MUST be USED as farm land, or some other kind of social benefit like housing, energy production etc. Not just as some rich person or companies investment that literally sits there doing nothing but gaining value or as a means to avoid taxes.
Ohhh socialism 😂
But who cares.. I think the big problem with current ideology is this obsession with owning property to be seen as successful. It’s just about status symbols more than anything else.
The reason we have such obscene housing costs is because of this obsession probably.
Surprised he’s not blaming Brexit. 😂
Free Julian Assange same story different regions 😂
I don't think that cultural experiences should be instead of but I think we should just expand introduction into other clas cultures
Those impacted will complain about any tax rise or benefit cut. We have just got to let labour get on with it. The country is bankrupt, it will take decades of pain to put public finances back on track.
James, if he's on over 218 he can'tget it. Simply that.sorry Ben ❤
One pensioner being pushed into poverty is one to many. This Labour policy is disgusting. End of story.
True. Although... adding to your wider point... if the removal of 250 per annum can tip 100k into poverty, then maybe you have a wider systemic issue.
Everyone forgave the tories for wasting £9.5 billion of tax payers money on useless PPE during the pandemic so the ‘declared’ ‘thousands ‘ of Starmers expences account is peanuts and also legal
But pensioners were happy enough to vote for benefit cuts for the sick and disabled during the austerity years. Sounds like poetic justice to me.
@@andrewstevenson118 yes I agree there is a wider issue.
@@HelenBain-th9nm not sure how you can say everyone forgave the tories for wasting money on useless PPE. I didn’t forgive them and I don’t know anyone that that did or does. I’m not so sure Starmer declared the gifts, not expenses without him realising the press had found out about several gifts he received. Gifts that he shouldn’t have accepted in many people’s opinion. He accepted around £110,000 worth of gifts for things like clothing, designer spectacles, private box at Arsenal football club, gifts of clothing for his wife to name but a few. And while he’s on a very decent Salary he’s accepting gifts then cutting pensioners winter fuel allowance. No wonder he ended up giving most of the gifts back and making it clear to the public he won’t make that mistake ( his words ) again.
So it’s the acceptance of gifts that upset and angered a lot of people not expenses. What expenses do you mean please ?
Universal credit costs less to administer than means testing. Is this about saving money or spite ?
Pension credit is already means tested. So no extra costs are incurred,
@@johnrussell3961no, you need to apply for it. Hence administration.
@@judithmorganjudyteen not much you just go off whos on pension credit to give the money to
@@chindit6784 you are correct there, but hundreds of thousands of us hadn't applied for it. Once people do then they may get it. It's a massive form to fill in.
Silly OAP porches etc etc I’m calling bull
Freezing pensioners is evil
Old people don't vote Labour. Young migrant men do. There's your answer
Migrants can't even vote. Only people from Ireland and the Commonwealth can. You've been watching too much Amercian news, our elections are completely different.
the boat people won't be cold this winter
‘Boat people’? Really!?
James becareful you showed some compassion
Is he quite well ?
James O’B earns an estimated £350K per year from LBC, 3k per episode, £1000 per hour.
....and for doing sweet fk all!
@ that is excluding fees for appearances on other shows and his book sales.
He clears a million a year and remember lives in a £multimillion house. As does Corbyn.
Check your maths.
@@andrewstevenson118 amended thanks for picking up on that.
@@julian987r4 You sure? Still seems incorrect. JOB does closer to 200 episodes per annum. Doesn't he? Which drops it to under 2k per show. I'm not trying to take away from your wider point, though.
James you are heartless, dont pretent to care, it doesnt suit you...
😂
The handling of this winter fuel payment has been idiotic. Here's how you implement it:
- everyone continues to get it, as before (no bureaucracy added)
- on annual taxes, there is a tiny new section added for a winter fuel payment _repayment_
- above a certain level, you repay the whole amount
- below a certain level, you repay zero
- in between, a calculation is used to determine how much you repay
This way, it is equitable, and you don't have issues where arbitrary cutoffs create unfairness, and it makes use of existing revenue/tax bureaucracy, so no additional cost there.
And then you have to pay someone to enforce all of this...
@@TalesOfWar I think you misunderstand. You already pay your revenue service to take care of enforcement. They review tax returns all the time. If there's an error, they catch it and you have to pay more or receive more back. The point is, you already have a bureaucracy in place to handle this.
"They've been betrayed by the Conservatives..."
The Conservative bench: SuPrIsEd PiKaChU fAcE??
Elephant in the room.
STATE PENSIONS SHOULD BE MEANS TESTED.
If you have a final salary NHS or LGSP pension, why should you be entitled to the full state pension? The above is an example, there are more examples i could use.
Wow people who are loaded farmer paying a tiny inheritance tax I have been an accountant for years they are very high earners grow products get money to grow them and as fir Clarkson he's loaded yet people who are skint no one cares universal credit is a joke especially since labour lowered it yet people are feeling sorry for farmers massive earners massive assets guaranteed job nepotism the world has gone mad farmers driving tractors worth the price of a house REDICULOUS