HARRIET Cross MP has raised fears that more than 17,000 pensioners in Gordon and Buchan are having to “choose between heating and eating” amid Labour’s cuts to winter fuel payments.
Ms Cross, who is the most northerly-based Conservative MP, will today vote against the Labour government’s plans to cut the winter fuel allowance during a debate on the issue at Westminster.
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The Gordon and Buchan MP said Labour have “left pensioners out in the cold” by their “ill-conceived plans”.
It comes as Aberdeenshire residents claimed up to £175 towards heating bills in harsh winters, research over a 10-year period at the Commons library shows.
The Scottish Conservative MP said “Labour’s choice has become our pensioners choice” as she fears the elderly will be forced to think twice about heating their homes, cooking and washing.
Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan, Harriet Cross, said: “There are 17,047 pensioners in Gordon and Buchan who stand to lose their winter fuel payment under the Labour government’s ill-conceived plan.
“My constituents are being abandoned by both the Labour government at Westminster and SNP government at Holyrood, both of which are choosing to leave some of the most vulnerable pensioners in a severe situation.
“Labour have sent a message loud and clear – they are the government that leaves pensioners out in the cold – that will be their legacy.
“The people of Gordon and Buchan, and indeed all of Scotland, are resilient. We have weathered many storms but we shouldn’t have to weather this one – a storm entirely of the government’s own making.
“Labour’s choice means that our pensioners now have to make their own choices on heating their homes, choosing to cook, running a warm bath or even getting out of bed because their house is too cold.
“Pensioners must be put first and commitments should be honoured to the elderly to ensure that no-one in this country has to choose between heating and eating this winter.”
