WATCH: Keir Starmer's Winter Fuel allowance U-turn is a 'victory for Nigel Farage' as PM faces 'difficult day'

GB News

Political commentator Dominic Moffitt has described Prime Minister Keir Starmer's U-turn on winter fuel payments as "a very difficult day" for the Government.The remarks come as Starmer announced plans to widen eligibility for the benefit following months of criticism.READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Transcript

00:00is the political commentator and consultant Dominic Moffat. Dominic, this is difficult to

00:06describe as anything other than perhaps a difficult day for the Prime Minister and a

00:11victory for Nigel Farage. Well, Tom, I think you're right. I think this is a very difficult

00:16day for the Prime Minister. There are two core parts to this. The first one is that Labour MPs

00:22who have been sent out to defend this policy month on month on month are going to be absolutely

00:27furious. They have been sent out to defend something that the Prime Minister will now

00:31try and gain credit for rolling back. The second point is that businesses crave stability. They

00:38crave predictability and taxation. I know this isn't a tax, but Treasury Ministers have made it

00:44very clear we're not going to keep changing everything like the last government. Something

00:47like eight massive tax changes for small businesses in the couple of years running up to the election,

00:53Treasury Ministers say we're not going to behave like that. If this is the start of a push like

00:57that, small businesses are really going to suffer. I was talking to small business owners,

01:01Sohan and Amria, and they were saying that the massive issue for them is that if they can't

01:06predict what's going to be coming down the line, they want a long-term thing that they're able to

01:10plan on. And I suppose the idea is that if this money is now going to be spent back on winter fuel

01:17payments, perhaps £1.5 billion, where will the Chancellor find the £1.5 billion? Well, this money is

01:24going to have to come from somewhere. And obviously, there have been massive announcements about

01:27increases in defence spending by the government. There have been a lot of promises around investing

01:33in infrastructure. Are they the things that are going to be cut? And businesses are not going to

01:38want to see that. I wonder...

Category

Transcript

Recommended