At Bromley's Full Council meeting on Monday 14th October, Bromley Conservative Councillors proposed a motion amendment calling on the Labour Government to scrap the "callous" policy of withdrawing the Winter Fuel Payment from tens of thousands of pensioners in the borough.
The amendment, put forward by Conservative Councillors Josh Coldspring-White and Alexa Michael, put to the vote a proposal to "Instruct the Leader of the Council to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, alerting her to our serious concern of the impact and health threats posed to Bromley’s least well-off pensioners by her recent announcement concerning Winter Fuel Payment, requesting that she delays any final decision until such time as the true financial cost of the exercise has been established and better safeguards set in place to ensure the safety of those most in need."
While the motion was passed, it was voted against by Bromley Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Meanwhile, Greenwich Conservative councillors have announced they will be proposing a motion at the next Greenwich Council meeting urging the council to use the data it has to pro-actively engaged local pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit to encourage them to sign up, in order to continue to receive the Winter Fuel Allowance. Charlie Davis, who is standing in this week's Eltham Town and Avery Hill by-election has made the move a central part of his campaign.
Charlie Davis, who is the only candidate standing up for local pensioners in the by-election, said: "If residents in Eltham, New Eltham and Avery Hill put their trust in me on Thursday, I will press Greenwich Council to do much more to sign up pensioners eligble for Pension Credit, so they continue to receive the Winter Fuel Payment. And I'll do everything I can to fight the Labour's Government's deeply unfair cut."
Residents can sign the Conservative Party's petition against the Government' withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment at www.keepwinterfuel.com
