00:00The Government are about making choices, and the new Prime Minister has made a choice.
00:05He has chosen to take the winter fuel allowance away from low-income pensioners and give that
00:11money to certain unionised workforces in inflation-busting pay rises. Why did the Prime Minister choose
00:20train drivers over Britain's vulnerable pensioners?
00:26This Government were elected to clear up the mess left by the party officers and to
00:32bring about the change that the country desperately needs. Our first job was to audit the books,
00:39and what we found was a £22 billion black hole. It is no good them complaining. Richard
00:47Hughes, the chair of the OBR, was very clear. He described it as one of the largest year
00:52overspends against forecasts outside of the pandemic—his words. So we have had to take
00:59tough decisions to stabilise the economy and repair the damage, including targeting winter
01:05fuel payments while protecting pensioners. Eight hundred thousand pensioners are not
01:10taking up pension credit. We intend to turn that around. We are going to align housing
01:14benefit and pension credit—something the previous Government deferred year after year
01:19after year. Because of our commitment to the triple lock, pensions are projected to
01:24increase by over £1,000 in the next five years.
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