This is a Talking Point published in the Hereford Times on September 19.

Ellie Chowns, MP for north Herefordshire

A KEY part of the role of an MP is scrutinising government. I take this very seriously; it’s why I ask a lot of questions in Parliament.

One of the issues I’ve spoken out about recently is the government’s cuts to Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners.

Hundreds of constituents have written to me about this, and I share their concerns. I wrote to the Chancellor about this in August, and I spoke out again in the debate in Parliament on Tuesday, September 10, calling on the government to stop, review, and think again.

I am deeply concerned about the two million pensioners including thousands in North Herefordshire – who will struggle without this support this winter.

Everyone deserves to live in a warm home. I recognise that the winter fuel payment is not a perfect policy, because the money goes to many people who don’t need it.

But the government have now taken it away from millions of people who do indeed desperately need the support.

And this has been done with very little notice, with winter approaching, and in the context of increasing energy prices.

We know that nearly one million people aren’t getting the pension credit they are entitled to, and efforts to increase takeup aren’t working nearly fast enough to close the gap before winter.

And there are millions more who can’t get pension credit but are still going to struggle because their income is just above the ‘cliff-edge’ cut-off point.

So I voted against the cut in Winter Fuel Payment, because it will make life harder for pensioners on low incomes.

Instead, we should be funding public services by asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay a little more – for example, by taxing income from wealth at the same rate as income from earnings.

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And we should invest as a country to ensure that every home is a warm and affordable home. That’s why I led a Westminster debate last Thursday on environmental standards for new housing.

We must ensure that every new home is highly insulated and super energy efficient– that’s the best way to bring bills down in the long term.

And while we’re at it, let’s ensure that every new home has solar panels on the roof to generate clean, green, free energy!