Blyth and Ashington MP refuses to back winter fuel payment plans

MPs voted by 349 to 228 votes to approve the controversial motion, with Mr Lavery one of 53 Labour MPs who did not cast a vote.

The annual payment of £200 or £300, depending on age, was universal and paid automatically to those eligible in November or December. But in July, the chancellor announced the payment would only be given to pensioners on low income who receive certain benefits.

In a statement published on social media, Mr Lavery described the payments as “vital support” and said he would not vote to make his constituents poorer.

Mr Lavery wrote: “When the measure was first announced I instinctively opposed it. In 14 years I have never voted to make my constituents poorer.

“I have listened to all of the arguments. I cannot and will not vote to take away this vital support.

“I have already written to the Chancellor urging a change of course on this policy. The budget is a matter of weeks away with further gloomy predictions of pain to come, and I will be arguing for measures that protect people in our communities, whilst tackling the mess the Tories have left us.

“The UK remains the sixth richest economy in the world, awash with wealth but held in the assets and bank accounts of the super-rich. We can deliver a just settlement for workers and those who deserve a rest after a long life of work by a real progressive taxation system that takes on those hoarding wealth they do not need.”

Labour has previously admitted that the move was a ‘tough choice’ but one that needed to be made to ‘protect the public finances’.

The party also pointed to the ‘black hole’ left by the previous Conservative Government, warning doing nothing risked ‘higher debt, higher mortgages and higher costs for the future’.