A pensioner and loyal GB News viewer has branded a Labour Party activist "a disgrace" during a heated exchange over the controversial Winter Fuel Allowance cuts.
Anita Atkinson from Durham confronted Chris Worrall on GB News after Ben Leo claimed that Worrall sees pensioners as "a bunch of rich, entitled people who don't deserve any help".
The confrontation comes as reports suggest Sir Keir Starmer may be preparing to reverse the unpopular policy that removed the benefit from millions of elderly people.
During the exchange, Ms Atkinson defended pensioners, saying: "I actually feel rich now because of the pension.
Atkinson told him that he is a "disgrace"
GB NEWS
"I get more from my pension than I ever did working for a wage. And I never once had a day off sick. I never had a single holiday in all that time."
"It's given to families on low incomes. These are families who are working, Chris. They're working and they still can't afford to heat their homes in winter. You're a disgrace."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Worrall defended his position, arguing for "intergenerational fairness" in the benefits system.
"Well, I'll tell you what, Anita when you've got two people working 60-hour weeks and struggling to afford nappies, and you're getting taxed the way we are, you have to talk about this in terms of intergenerational fairness," he said.
He added: "We're not talking about the vulnerable. We're talking about the rich, five-bedroom-owning, wine cellar crowd not getting the winter cruise allowance. That's the main thing."
The clash comes amid reports that Starmer is preparing to reverse the controversial winter fuel payment cuts.
According to The i Paper, talks in Number 10 about abandoning the policy "have accelerated this week" with changes possibly coming as soon as next month.
The Prime Minister has not ruled out a U-turn when questioned. Speaking during a visit to Albania, Starmer said: "Look, we took difficult decisions, but the right decisions, at the budget, including the decision that we took on winter fuel."
He continued: "As a result of those decisions - I mean, they were taken specifically with the purpose of stabilising the economy. And I think we're seeing the evidence of that in the interest rate cuts and the growth figures. So, they were difficult decisions but they were right decisions."
Last July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that Winter Fuel Payments would be means-tested, meaning 10 million fewer pensioners are now eligible for the scheme.
Keir Starmer is reportedly set to U-turn on the Winter Fuel payment PACurrently, to qualify for the payments, recipients must have been born before September 23, 1958, and be claiming either Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, or Pension Credit.
The government is reportedly considering increasing the £11,500 income threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance, to bring more people into the benefit's net.
The i Paper understands that while a complete reversal of the policy is being discussed, it is "extremely unlikely to be agreed".
The cuts were originally intended to save £1.4 billion as part of the government's efforts to plug what Chancellor Rachel Reeves described as a £22 billion "black hole" in the nation's finances following years of Conservative rule.
