Winter fuel cost cut: ‘I’ll lose £3’

Sandra, 66, from Durham, said she had just £4 left in her account and had to borrow money from her brother last month to pay bills.

She told the BBC she survived last winter by wearing a hat and scarf indoors and using hot water bottles, hot drinks and extra bedding to ward off the cold.

In the coming months, Sandra plans to visit public spaces to warm up.

“My local library is open two days a week, so I go there. I don’t have much to complain about, as I’m not hungry, but I’m sure some people are.”

She believes that the “vulnerable” are being punished by budget cuts.

“I already pay tax and have nothing left each month until the next state pension payment, which is my main source of income,” she said. “£215 a month goes to council tax and energy bills. I don’t drive, eat out, go on holiday or buy new clothes. There’s nothing more I can do.”

Labour insisted the cut – worth around £1.5bn – was needed to plug a so-called £22bn “black hole” in the budget left by the previous Conservative government.

The Conservatives claim Labour is exaggerating the state of public finances to prepare the ground for tax rises in the October Budget.