Tuesday’s newspapers are dominated by the news that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has U-turned on her scrapping of winter fuel payments for roughly 9 million pensioners. Those pensioners will now again be eligible before this winter – it’s unclear if pensioners who missed out will be able to get the money backdated.
On Wednesday, Reeves will unveil her spending review, with speculation rife across the papers, critics are asking just who is paying for all this.
Metro says the chancellor’s U-turn is “humiliating” And reports that reinstating the payment will mean Rachel Reeves saves just £450 million instead of £1.5 billion. It says the chancellor hasn’t said how the U-turn will be paid for “adding to speculation of tax rises in her October budget.”
This headline uses dramatic and emotive language (“HAMMERED”, “Humiliating”) to frame the Chancellor’s U-turn as a major defeat. The tone implies public or political backlash, reinforcing a narrative of weak leadership and loss of credibility. The capitalisation adds to the sense of urgency and embarrassment.
Daily Mail also calls it “humiliation” and dubs the chancellor and prime minister as “deluded.” The paper reports that the PM Starmer is “ridiculed” for suggesting that the reinstating of the payment is now possible because Labour has “fixed” the economy.
“Victory for pensioners!” says the Daily Express, which says the chancellor’s U-turn on winter fuel payments came “after 298 days of relentless campaigning” by the paper. It’s a major victory for the paper – whose reader base is pensioners.
The i says the U-turn “gets a warm welcome” from Labour MPs – but backbench MPs are also warning the Cabinet that they must start listening to backbenchers to avoid a similar U-turn on planned cuts to disability benefits.
The Times says the chancellor’s U-turn means all pensioners earning less than £35,000 a year will be entitled to the payment – but the chancellor has failed to say how she will pay for it.
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