A senior Labour figure called for a rethink in the decision to means-test the winter fuel allowance as ministers acknowledged stripping the payments from millions of pensioners contributed to Labour’s hammering at the ballot box.

Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan said the decision to axe the universal benefit was “something that comes up time and again” as she called for a U-turn.

Cabinet minister Wes Streeting acknowledged people’s anger at the policy but said there was no formal review taking place, amid speculation that changes were being considered to restore the payments to some who lost the handouts worth up to £300.

Labour lost the previously safe Runcorn and Helsby constituency in a by-election and almost 200 councillors as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made sweeping gains in last week’s vote.

Baroness Morgan also fears Reform making significant gains in Wales at next year’s Senedd election.

In a speech in Cardiff she called on Sir Keir Starmer to rethink the means-testing of winter fuel payments.

She said there were “two Labour Governments working together” in Cardiff Bay and Westminster........

© South Wales Argus