Coffee House Shots21 Mai 2025

Winter fuel U-turn and a rift at the heart of government

After sustained speculation and a local elections drubbing, Keir Starmer announced today at PMQs that the government will be softening their policy on winter fuel. Whilst it won’t come into effect for some time, they have agreed to ensure that ‘more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payment.’

This comes hours after a memo was mysteriously leaked to the Telegraph. It contains an extensive list of recommendations from Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to the Treasury, including a set of eight tax rises such as reinstating the pensions lifetime allowance and altering dividend taxes. This amounts to a direct challenge to Rachel Reeves’s fiscal approach and preference for spending cuts.

The bigger story, of course, is what this says about feelings within Labour – it’s clearly not a happy family. Sources suggest that Angela Rayner is uneasy with the direction of travel in the Treasury and speaks for a silent majority in the Labour party who are fed up with defending controversial measures such as winter fuel. So who leaked this memo? Could Rayner be leading a mutiny? And will the U-turn on winter fuel placate the rebels?

Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Isabel Hardman.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.

For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(3338)

Nick Clegg: my biggest coalition regrets

Tim Shipman is joined by Sir Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, as part of The Spectator's new event series, Tim Shipman Meets the Party Leaders. Tim cha...

24 Jul 0s

How Reform and the Tories plan to fight Andy Burnham

In the magazine this week, James Heale writes that Kemi Badenoch was in an upbeat mood when she addressed her troops last week. ‘This time last year,’ she told the 1922 Committee, ‘people said Jenrick...

24 Jul 0s

Andy’s promises – who’s paying?

It is day three of Andy Burnham’s premiership, and we have had a tranche of policy announcements and funding commitments. A VAT cut for energy bills, £2 bus fares, and today a business rate cut for pu...

23 Jul 0s

Iain Dale: Standing for Parliament was a 'humiliating experience'

In a busy week for British politics, LBC’s Iain Dale joins Tim Shipman and James Heale to discuss his new book, Have I Said Too Much? Iain speaks frankly about standing as a Conservative candidate at ...

22 Jul 0s

Burnham's northern queens

Appointment into Andy Burnham's new cabinet went late into the evening: Wes Streeting to defence, plus the comeback queens – Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell and Angela Rayner all into senior posts in govern...

21 Jul 0s

Burnham, Healey, Miliband & Mahmood become the big four

Andy Burnham has continued to announce his new cabinet: John Healey as Chancellor, Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary and Shabana Mahmood remains in the Home Office. Now ten of Starmer's most trusted mi...

20 Jul 0s

Labour's new cabinet – who's in & who's out?

As Andy Burnham unveils his first Cabinet, join Tim Shipman and James Heale for a special live edition of Coffee House. Who’s in, who’s out? What do the appointments reveal about Burnham’s priorities,...

20 Jul 0s

Why MPs must be whipped | Simon Hart

Andy Burnham has promised to turn the whips’ office into an ‘HR department’ – but the former chief whip Simon Hart warns that the approach is ‘naive’ and could leave the new prime minister unable to c...

17 Jul 0s