Tories call for Welsh winter fuel payment

There are calls for the Welsh government to set up its own winter fuel payment scheme by slashing the cost of its own administration.

Most pensioners lost their allowance last year after the Labour UK government began means testing the payments.

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar claimed it could cost £100m.

Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan said the Welsh government had to focus on areas it has responsibility for.

Plaid Cymru have made similar calls after the Scottish government announced its own scheme.

Millar said the Welsh government's administration budget had risen by more than £117m in two years, but the government accused him of not comparing "like with like".

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves cut winter fuel payments back last year to older people who receive pension credit, or other means-tested financial support.

It was previously paid to all pensioners.

At the time Reeves said she had to make "urgent decisions" because of previous "undisclosed" overspending by the previous Conservative UK government.

The exchanges in the Senedd between Millar and Morgan come ahead of the Welsh government's final budget plans for the next financial year, to be confirmed next month.

Millar questioned whether the Welsh government and the Labour Party had something "against older people" during First Minister's Questions on Tuesday, which Morgan denied.

Morgan said the Welsh government is "pouring money into the NHS" which she said older people make "huge use of".

Millar replied that Labour had been a "disaster" for older people in both Westminster and Cardiff.

He said while Scottish Labour, which is in opposition in the Edinburgh parliament, had "the bottle to stand up" to the UK government on the issue, Welsh ministers had done "absolutely nothing".

He said Labour ministers could redeem their position by "establishing a Welsh winter fuel allowance"

It would cost around £100m a year, he said, claiming Welsh government ministers could make the money available "by simply reversing your decision to continue to increase the Welsh government's own central administration costs".

"Which, by the end of the next financial year will be £117m higher than they were two years ago".

The first minister replied: "I think its really important that we focus on the things where we have responsibility, and that's what we will continue to do."

On top of the list of concern of the public, she said, was cutting waiting lists, "making sure we respond to older people who make fantastic use of the NHS in our communities".

"You're quite happy to say spend it here. You never tell us where you should cut it from," she said.

The Scottish government announced last November that every pensioner household in Scotland will receive a winter fuel payment in 2025.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth asked Morgan in the Senedd at the time if the minister did not want "to try to find a way" of following that SNP government.

Disputing the Conservative leader's interpretation of figures, a Welsh government spokesperson said: "Though budgets have generally increased since 2023, Darren Millar is not comparing like with like.

"The 2023-24 central administration budget did not include expenditure on Welsh language, unlike the 2025-26 central administration budget.

"The final budget for central administration will be published shortly, and will cover a broad range of areas of expenditure including the Welsh Revenue authority, civil contingencies, tribunals, borrowing costs and the Welsh language."