The MP for Camborne and Redruth said his vote to remove the Winter Fuel Allowance from hundreds of thousands of pensioners was an “incredibly difficult” decision to make.

Posting on Facebook he said several people had asked him why he had voted in favour of removing the universality of the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA).

On Tuesday, all four Cornwall Labour MPs voted against a motion to annul the Government’s cuts to winter fuel payments. It was defeated by 348 votes to 228.

He said he had considered what his constituents who had contacted him by letter and e-mail had said but in the end decided he had to make the difficult decision.

“It was an incredibly difficult decision to make and not one any of us were expecting to have to make,” he said.

“I read the words of the constituents that contacted me via email and letter very carefully. In the end I concluded that I wasn’t elected to avoid the difficult decisions. No other section of society is sheltered from inflation by the triple lock.”

He said the lock means the state pension has gone up over £900 this year and will go up a further £460 next year, “well in excess” of the £300 Winter Fuel Allowance.

READ NEXT:

'We have to make sure people are looked after' says MP over winter fuel allowance cut

He said additionally the chancellor Rachel Reeves had extended the £500 million Household Support Fund meaning they have access to extra help.

“We’re already finding many pensioners who thought they were ineligible for pensioners credit and therefore WFA, but in fact they are one of the 880,000 who are eligible but do not claim. If you know of anyone in this position, please ask them to call 0800 991234 to check.”

He said the party have linked pensioners credit to housing benefit so those eligible for pensioners credit will automatically get housing benefit.

“We didn’t come into government to remove such benefits. But we have inherited a massive black hole in our finances from the Conservatives. The Conservatives ran the economy into the ground and will no doubt cynically oppose other measures we take to fix their mess.

He added: “The Labour government will not duck the difficult decisions to get the finances sorted and the economy growing again. There will be more difficult decisions ahead before we have fixed the Conservatives’ mess.

“We were given a mandate for change, a mandate to grow the economy so we can fix our crumbling public services. It will be painful but we are resolute in our mission to deliver that change.”