Rebel Labour MSPs back SNP in winter fuel payment vote

Oh, here we go again. Another day, another farce in the Holyrood circus. This time, it’s all about the winter fuel payments, you know, that wee bit of cash pensioners used to get to stop them freezing in their homes—before Westminster, with all the compassion of a brick, decided to make it *means-tested*. Aye, because why would we want to help all pensioners when we can just make life harder for the most vulnerable?

So, First Minister John Swinney, bless him, decided to put forward a nice wee non-binding motion to demand Westminster scrap this ridiculous means-testing malarkey. And what happened? It passed 99 votes to 14. But wait, hold onto yer hats, because two Labour MSPs, Richard Leonard and Alex Rowley, decided they’d had enough of playing nice and actually backed the motion. How dare they defy their leader? Oh, the drama.

Meanwhile, Labour, led by the ever-slick Anas Sarwar, wanted to *kind of* protest the cuts but without actually upsetting anyone in Westminster. Instead of demanding a U-turn, they just called for the Scottish government to bring back the "fuel insecurity fund." Aye, because that's exactly the kind of decisive leadership we’re all crying out for – a half-measure instead of fixing the problem. Bold stuff, eh?

Sarwar, of course, did his best to defend Sir Keir Starmer's decision to tighten the purse strings, saying the means-testing criteria were “too tight”—but hey, he's got to back the Prime Minister. He even had the gall to claim that the Labour government didn’t want to make these cuts, but it’s all the fault of the Tories and the *chaos* they left behind. Oh aye, it’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? Classic.

Swinney, on the other hand, says the Scottish government was *forced* to cut universal entitlement because they’d be losing out on £150 million in Treasury funding. He reckons that cash would’ve covered most of the funding for a new Holyrood scheme. But nope, thanks to Westminster, pensioners are left high and dry, and the new scheme’s pushed back to 2025. Just in time for another cold winter where pensioners have to choose between heating and eating. Brilliant, just brilliant.

The SNP, naturally, jumped at the chance to make Sarwar look like a Westminster stooge, with Clare Haughey accusing him of lying down for Starmer instead of standing up for Scotland’s pensioners. Meanwhile, Labour’s amendment to Swinney’s motion – the one that didn’t call for scrapping means-testing but *did* pat the UK government on the back for extending a different fund – was voted down. Shocker.

Even the Tories had a go at Labour, with Russell Findlay saying folk across the UK were furious, and pensioners felt “betrayed.” Betrayed by Labour? Aye, that’s the pot calling the kettle black if I’ve ever heard it. And let’s not forget the Prime Minister’s “shocking” admission that they hadn’t even done an impact assessment on this cut. Because why bother checking if people will suffer when you’re Westminster, right?

And Starmer, bless him, tried to justify it all by saying it’s to fix a £22 billion “black hole” in the budget. Well, that’s alright then! A pensioner cannae afford to heat their home, but at least there’s a black hole getting patched up somewhere in Westminster.

So here we are, yet again, with Scottish Labour tying itself in knots, trying to please everyone and failing spectacularly. Half their MSPs didn’t even bother showing up for the vote. “Slipped,” they said. Aye, slipped out the back door when things got awkward more like.

Meanwhile, pensioners across Scotland are left to wonder if they’ll be able to turn the heating on this winter or if they’ll just have to huddle under a blanket and curse the day Margaret Thatcher ever set foot in Number 10. Because let’s be honest, half of this mess can be traced right back to her. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to blame the Iron Lady, eh?