Above: Rebecca Paul MP and Conservative colleagues battle to save Winter Fuel Payments for millions of vulnerable pensioners
When I was first told that the new Government was going to move to scrap Winter Fuel Payments for millions of people, my first reaction was that of surprise and shock. Such a policy had not featured in their manifesto and seemed very much at odds with the recent approach shown by ministers towards striking public sector workers.
It quickly became clear though that ministers were entirely serious. Labour's intent is to remove payment from almost all pensioners, including those with incomes less than half the minimum wage and even 84% of those pensioners who are living in poverty. Even worse, the payments were to be stripped away with a simple statutory instrument that under normal circumstances would have stood no chance of even been debated in Parliament.
Conservative MPs (myself included) felt very strongly that if the Chancellor was determined to make this change, she must be held accountable for it and should be made to defend and explain her decision publicly. This is why we moved as quickly as possible to table an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons that served to force a debate on the issue and not allow Labour to slip such a consequential change through without proper scrutiny and a vote in Parliament.
It goes without saying that I signed this EDM as soon as was possible.
The question remained though, as to what more I could be doing to champion this issue. My inbox has been awash with messages from some of the seventeen thousand pensioners in Reigate, Redhill, Banstead and our villages who will lose their payments if the Government goes ahead with these changes. They were angry, concerned - and scared of what this winter could bring.
Fortunately, I was presented with an opportunity to give voice to these concerns on September 4th when I was successful in the ballot to ask a question to the Prime Minister at the weekly PMQs session in the Commons.
In the spirit of being constructive, I asked the Prime Minister if he would consider broadening eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment so that pensioners on low incomes, who rely on it to stay warm, could still benefit. This felt like a reasonable starting point for a proper debate. Much to my disappointment and that of many local residents who were watching with interest, the Prime Minister refused to even entertain the suggestion.
Below: Using Prime Minister's Questions to urge the PM to think again
While the Prime Minister chose to evade my question, he could not evade the debate secured by the coordinated efforts of Conservative MPs. On September 10th the House of Commons met to consider whether Labour's Winter Fuel Cut should go ahead.
The speeches arguing against the cut were extremely powerful - and I sensed that many Labour MPs privately agreed with the arguments being put by Conservative colleagues - even if they dared not defy their whips and vote accordingly. For my part I had no hesitation at all in voting against scrapping Winter Fuel Payments.
Regrettably, the final outcome of the vote was 228 opposing the cut and 348 Labour MPs voting to impose it. Despite overwhelming public anger and serious concerns raised, it is now very likely that millions of pensioners around the country - and almost seventeen thousand in Reigate - will lose the payments that many rely on to keep warm in the winter months.
This is not just and it is not fair. I want to reassure every pensioner in Reigate, Redhill, Banstead and our villages that I and my colleagues are not going to let this matter drop but will continue to use every mechanism and means at our disposal to delay and challenge a cut which - as several speakers in the Commons debate noted - will ultimately cost lives.
