Revealed: The £100m bill for Scottish Government to save winter fuel payments
Scotland’s public finance minister is warning £100 million may need to be found to fund winter fuel payments north of the Border.
The assertion by Ivan McKee comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday unveiled she was limiting winter fuel payments to benefit recipients in a bid to plug a £22 billion black hole in public finances.
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Hide AdScottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville described the Chancellor’s decision as “disappointing” as she separately claimed the move was announced without consulting ministers at Holyrood.
A means test for winter fuel payments will now be introduced, which will reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment by ten million, saving some £1.4 billion this financial year.
However, the winter fuel payment is due to be devolved to Holyrood this year, and on Monday First Minister John Swinney said “tough decisions” would need to be made on spending in Scotland.
Mr McKee warned the Scottish Government would need to find £100m if it is to keep winter fuel payments universal.
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Hide Ad“This is the first year this has happened, and there is £180m coming [to Scotland] for that payment,” he told BBC Good Morning Scotland.


“Clearly that is going to be a lot lower now, but how much lower we don’t know. We think at least £100m will come out of that, which will need to come from somewhere else if we want to continue to pay that winter fuel payment, which we absolutely want to do.”
Shortly after his election victory, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed to reset the UK government’s relationship with the Scottish Government.
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Hide AdMr McKee claimed Scottish ministers were only told about the cuts to winter fuel payments an hour and a half before Ms Reeves made her statement in the House of Commons.
He said: “We were only told 90 minutes beforehand, which is concerning given Labour’s talk about resetting the relationship with Holyrood. That’s clearly not happened.”
He said Ms Reeves “absolutely should have known” she would need to make cuts once she came into office.
Mr McKee said: “Labour should have known about this. They’ve either been incompetent in not checking the numbers, which were readily available during the election campaign, or they’ve been very misleading about the process that’s happened here.”
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Hide AdThe Scottish minister said “there’s no doubt” this equals austerity, adding: “[The Chancellor has] been very clear that there will be more cuts coming on top of what’s already happened with the winter fuel payments, which is very concerning, so it’s absolutely austerity.”
During his interview, Mr McKee also took aim at Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, for his claim that Labour austerity cuts were “mince”, saying he has now been proved wrong.
Mr Murray told the BBC it was “completely and utterly wrong” to suggest Labour knew cuts would be needed before forming a government.
Asking to respond to Mr McKee’s claims, the Scottish secretary said: “He is comparing apples with pears.
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“This is a £22bn in year overspend by the previous government that they hid from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which is the independent body which measures these things.
“Ivan McKee has got this completely wrong. It has nothing to do with the arguments we had during the election campaign.”
Mr Murray added: “There’s no wholesale cuts here - there’s no austerity here.”
While the Scottish Government’s website states its intention the new payment “will be paid to everyone over the state pension age every winter”, ministers will now have to determine if this will be affordable in light of the UK government’s decision.
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Hide AdMs Somerville said: “The Chancellor’s decision to means-test winter fuel payment is disappointing and was made without consultation or discussion with the Scottish Government, which contrasts with the UK government’s commitment to have a better working relationship.”
She said the Scottish Government was now “urgently considering the financial impact of the UK government’s cut to winter fuel payment in England and Wales, and what this means for our replacement, pension age winter heating payments in Scotland”.
The social justice secretary stressed: “The Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and has consistently supported vulnerable households through a range of actions.”
The Scottish Greens called for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to apologise for “misleading Scotland” about his party’s spending plans.
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Co-leader Lorna Slater said: “Scottish Labour promised change and an end to Tory cuts and austerity, but that has fallen apart within weeks of them taking office. Anas Sarwar couldn’t have been clearer, I was standing on the stage with him during the BBC debate when he said ‘read my lips: no austerity under Labour’.”
Ms Slater added: “Anas Sarwar needs to apologise to Scotland and take a stand against Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and the cuts that they are imposing.”
Labour ministers have separately been tackled by their own side over how many more elderly people will die of cold as a result of stripping ten million pensioners of their winter fuel payments.
In response to the red-on-red criticism in Parliament, the UK government frontbench said it understood the “disappointment”, but insisted it was the right, if tough choice, given the state of the public finances inherited from the Tories.
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Hide AdThe new administration was also accused of “picking” on pensioners with the move, which it was claimed would wipe out the benefits of the triple lock, which guarantees state pay-outs rise each year in line with inflation, earnings or by 2.5 per cent – whichever is higher.
Challenging the Government, Labour peer Lord Sikka argued the move was “taking away” £300 from pensioners by “a measure that was not in our manifesto”. He told the upper chamber: “I have received already many messages where pensioners are very, very concerned about this.”
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