Liz Kendall

This has been a really important debate about a serious issue, with many heartfelt contributions. My hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), the new Chair of the Treasury Committee, forensically set out the delayed and deferred decisions by the former Government that have put such pressure on the public finances. My hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) rightly spoke about pensioners, children and disabled people in poverty, and the need to do much more to support them. The hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) talked about the crucial issue of pension credit uptake and what we will do differently. I will say more about that later, but I reassure her that the Treasury is fully behind the action that we are taking. My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon), who has huge experience in health and social care, talked about the need to work with those in supported accommodation, housing associations and the NHS to ensure that pensioners get the help that they are entitled to. I will spell out some of that action. My hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) made a strong case for targeting help to the poorest pensioners and the need to tackle the root causes of poverty, including insulating homes and bringing down energy costs. My hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan) mentioned, among many things, the very long and complicated pension credit form, which I have asked the Department to reduce to make it as simple as possible. I would like to start by setting out why we have taken the difficult decision to means-test winter fuel payments so that they are no longer available to all pensioners whatever their income, but are focused on those in the greatest need. Put simply, it is because we must fix the foundations of our economy as the first step to rebuilding Britain and making the changes that our country desperately needs, and because when money is tight, our priority must be to target resources at those who need them the most. Opposition Members do not want to be reminded of their record and the state they left the country in, but their economic failure and reckless decisions left a £22 billion hole in the public finances this year, with a £6.4 billion overspend on the asylum system, a £2.9 billion overspend on the transport budget, and new roads, hospitals and train stations announced but not budgeted for. There was one unfunded commitment after another, and the reserves were spent three times over—spending like there is no tomorrow, with no thought for the consequences today. That is before we even begin to deal with the challenges we already knew about: NHS waiting lists at 7.6 million, more than 1 million waiting for a council home, a totally broken prison system and more than 4 million children growing up poor. Opposition Members want to deny that is the case, but the Office for Budget Responsibility is crystal clear: it was made aware of the true extent of the pressures on the public finances only after we were elected—pressures it says constitute one of the largest overspends outside the pandemic. Faced with that reality and the need to get the public finances on track this year, we took the difficult decision to focus winter fuel payments on those in greatest need.