Rachel Reeves has announced the winter fuel payment will be restored to all pensioners with a household income of 拢35,000 or less. Millions more people will now get the benefit, despite ministers ruling out a U-turn for months.
Monday 9 June 2025 16:52, UK
Torsten Bell is on his feet in the Commons, laying out the government's winter fuel payment U-turn.
You can watch live in the stream at the top of this page.
If it's still playing the usual Sky News channel stream, refresh the page.
Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, was the one sent to the despatch box this afternoon to endure the wrath of MPs in the wake of the winter fuel payment U-turn.
He is, as of writing, still there.
Unsurprisingly, Conservative MPs are vociferous in their criticism.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately grandstanded, remaking points we are all familiar with.
She did start, however, by saying she felt for Bell being sent out "by his bosses to complete what must be the most humiliating climbdown a government has ever faced in its first year in office".
Bell was seen bellowing "Liz Truss" at her from across the aisle.
'Chilling'
Conservative MP Dame Harriet Baldwin - who was formerly chair of the Treasury select committee - said Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a "chilling" decision last year when she changed winter fuel.
Bell - who at one pointed boasted that consumer champion Martin Lewis had praised the U-turn - was pushed on various technical points too.
Will family estates be pursued for money back after a pensioner dies? No.
Will savings be counted towards the threshold for winter fuel payments? It depends if it's taxed or not.
There was also criticism from the Labour benches - with the likes of Rachel Maskell and Imran Hussain welcoming the U-turn.
However, both they and other Labour MPs said they wanted the government to go further - including by scrapping the two-child cap to bring down child poverty too.
Despite being invited to do so, Bell declined on multiple occasions to apologise to pensioners who had their winter fuel payments taken away last year and who will now be getting them back.
Ahead of Wednesday's spending review, the government has confirmed all departments have settled their budgets with the Treasury.
There had been reports Yvette Cooper in the Home Office had been holding out for extra cash, but this looks to have been figured out.
Rachel Reeves will deliver the spending review to parliament at around 12.30pm on Wednesday - we'll bring you live coverage.
The prime minister's spokesperson confirmed the review was settled earlier this afternoon.
By Mark Kleinman, City editor
Half of Britain's 2,500 remaining smaller housebuilders could crash into insolvency by the end of this parliament as a consequence of the cost of industry regulations, a report will warn this week.
Sky News has seen a document to be published on Tuesday - ahead of the government's spending review - which will refer to "a perfect storm of costs" that threatens to wipe out the profits of SME housebuilders.
The bleak forecast is the principal conclusion of a report produced jointly by the public affairs firm WPI Strategy and ChamberlainWalker, an economics consultancy specialising in housing and planning.
It casts a fresh shadow over the government's target of building 1.5m homes during the course of this parliament - one of its most important manifesto commitments ahead of last year's landslide victory.
Nigel Farage has defended his ability to work well with colleagues, following the high-profile resignation of Reform UK's chairman.
Zia Yusuf quit on Thursday, following a row over banning burkas - which is not the party's policy, but was raised by one of its five MPs.
Yusuf has since rejoined the party to lead cost-cutting initiatives at the councils under its control.
Is the cult of Farage a problem for his parties?
Farage was asked by our political correspondent Tamara Cohen if he sees it as his fault that Reform and his previous parties, such as the Brexit Party and UKIP, have had a string of high-profile spats and resignations.
"That's your narrative," Farage responded, suggesting "the evidence is actually very different".
He said he's still working with some people he first met 25 years ago, and others he employed in the City "back in the 90s are still personal friends".
Only someone who "talks behind my back" and "betrays that trust" will get the silent treatment from him, he said. Any fallouts are the result of "people who think they're bigger and better than me".
Reform needs a 'broad-based team'
Turning to Yusuf's resignation, Farage said he "wasn't exactly chuffed" but the ex-chairman had apologised, been forgiven, and "we move on".
A suddenly more contrite Farage added: "I understand the basis of the question. What I have to do, as we head towards the next general election, is show I'm able to put together a broad-based team, and it is about much more than me.
"I believe we're building that already, and I intend to go on doing so."
Never mind the spending review coming up on Wednesday, the government has already delivered a big headline for the week with its winter fuel payments U-turn.
Here are the main things you need to know:
We'll have more reaction and analysis following the winter fuel announcement throughout the afternoon - and you can watch a Commons statement on the changes from around 4.30pm.
Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge will no doubt be dominated by the changes - you can watch live at 7pm.
Away from winter fuel, we'll bring you any updates from the prime minister's meeting with the boss of NATO, more comments from Reform's Nigel Farage, and much more. Stay with us!
The SNP has said Labour must learn lessons from the "damaging mess鈥� caused by robbing pensioners", following the government's U-turn today.
The party, which has no little stake in the argument as the Scottish Parliament can issue its own winter fuel payments independently, has used the afternoon to criticise Rachel Reeves anyway.
It says her U-turn was "inevitable" and the government must go further, including scrapping "punitive" welfare policies like its planned disability cuts and the Tory era two-child benefit cap.
"At the spending review on Wednesday, the Labour government must end its austerity cuts for good - and not impose even more cuts to families and public services," he added.
This morning, ministers pledged there would be no return to austerity - saying that period is "over".
And the government has repeatedly refused to rule out reversing the two-child benefit cap.
Sir Keir Starmer has also faced a lot of flak from some of his backbenchers over proposed cuts to personal independence payments (PIP), which are received by people living with a disability.
The government has faced plenty of criticism for taking too long to U-turn on cuts to winter fuel payments.
But the chancellor has now also been slated for taking the U-turn at all - with one group saying she is giving the benefit to too many rich pensioners, again.
The Resolution Foundation, a left-wing think tank, has said the changes announced today will create "new complexity in the tax system".
Alex Clegg, an economist at the organisation, said an income of 拢35,000 (the new limit on who gets the payment) had become a "cliff-edge".
He added: "The reported savings of 拢450m will be reduced further by the cost of increased pension credit take-up as a result of the original policy, and the cost of administering the new means-test.
"The real question is why it is now a priority to pay winter fuel payments to over three quarters of pensioners, with almost half of the new beneficiaries in the richest half of the population, when previously it was judged that only one in 10 needed support."
For context: This think tank is a broadly pro-Labour group whose ex-CEO Torsten Bell was elected as a Labour MP at the last election.
Rachel Reeves must be feeling like she can't win.
Here's a round-up of how party leaders have responded to the news that millions more pensioners will get the winter-fuel payment this year.
Kemi Badenoch branded the change "humiliating", given the prime minister had repeatedly "arrogantly dismissed" her calls for a U-turn.
"Pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating last winter," said the Tory leader. "Starmer should apologise to them."
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the decision to restrict winter fuel payments only to the poorest pensioners was "disastrous".
He said his party would study the proposed changes closely "to make sure those would need support actually get that support", adding: "The pain they went through this winter cannot be for nothing."
Nigel Farage said Reform could claim "some credit" for the U-turn, with his party having vowed to restore the payment to all pensioners should it ever enter government.
Although a glance at his voting record shows he didn't actually vote against the cuts when they were put to parliament last year.
Today's announcement from the Treasury only pertains to pensioners in England and Wales.
Those in Scotland and Northern Ireland are at the mercy of the devolved governments there.
In the former, the SNP administration had already announced plans for winter fuel payments of either 拢100, 拢200 or 拢300 for this year.
Those on some benefits, like pension credit, would get one of the higher amounts and everyone else would get 拢100.
In Northern Ireland, the Stormont administration initially said it would match the UK government's initial means-testing policy.
It was later announced that those pensioners impacted by the change would receive a one-off 拢100 payment to help with bills.
