Hartlepool Labour MP says 'serious mistakes' on disability and winter fuel cuts should be corrected after Reform election success
Labour’s MP for Hartlepool admits the party has made “serious mistakes” after Reforms success in Thursday’s local elections.
Jonathan Brash said in a post on his official Facebook account on Sunday cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel payments and disability benefits should be reversed.
He wrote: “The results on Thursday make it abundantly clear that people are not happy and although the Labour Government is doing and will continue to do many good things, we must also accept that serious mistakes have been made.
“On winter fuel and disabled benefits in particular it’s time to recognise the harm those decisions are doing and that they must be corrected.
"People need to feel better off, they need to see their council tax and energy bills coming down, they need to see their neighbourhoods and town centres cleaned up and they need to see our borders secured.”
Reform took control of 10 councils and won more than 600 council seats in Thursday’s polls.
The party also comfortably won Hartlepool’s Throston ward by-election to replace Labour member Cameron Sharp with Amanda Napper taking the seat.
Mr Brash previously defended removing the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners and voted with colleagues to block a Conservative motion to annul the cuts.
He blamed the “hard decision” on the Conservatives’ handling of the economy and said in September: “Means-testing the winter fuel allowance is right. I don't believe that well off people should necessarily be given government handouts.”
But he said he wanted the threshold for the payments to be looked at.