Winter Fuel Protest in Portsmouth

Protests took place in Portsmouth on Friday, November 29, 2024, in opposition to the government's cuts to winter fuel payments.

Transcript

00:00My name's Alan Burgess, and I'm with Portsmouth Unite Community.

00:05Tell me why we are protesting today.

00:07We're protesting because we are hit with a double whammy

00:11from the Labour government on top of 14 years of Tory austerity.

00:17And it's really unacceptable.

00:19The winter fuel allowance has been taken away

00:22and we've got price increases from Ofgem.

00:28Price increases and losing our winter fuel allowance is just unacceptable

00:33and we have to stop that. That's why we're protesting.

00:36So tell me what actions you'd like the government to take.

00:41We want to restore the winter fuel allowance

00:44and nationalise energy companies

00:48so that they don't profit out of old people's misery.

00:53So do you think that the winter fuel payments should be means tested at a higher rate?

00:58That's an interesting question, at a higher rate.

01:00I certainly think the winter fuel allowance could be at a higher rate

01:03but it is vital that it's maintained as universal

01:07because what we've seen in the latest figures of pension credit uptake

01:12is it's actually only catching about 5% of an increase

01:17and over 100% of people have applied for pension credit.

01:24So tell me what alternatives do you think the government can take?

01:28I think what we are doing is a defensive campaign.

01:31We want the winter fuel allowance to be retained

01:36and we want energy prices to stop going up

01:41and by that we want energy companies to be nationalised.