UK leader faces unease in his Labour Party after a winter fuel allowance is cut for millions

abcnews.go.com:

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has won a parliamentary vote on a contentious decision to cut a payment that helps millions of pensioners pay winter heating bills

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced a battle of nerves with his Labour Party on Tuesday, winning a parliamentary vote on a contentious decision to cut a payment that helps millions of pensioners pay winter heating bills — but not ending unease about it among his lawmakers.

Starmer says the decision to remove the winter fuel allowance, worth between 200 and 300 pounds ($262 and $393) a year, from all but the poorest retirees is needed because of the dire state of the public finances left by the previous Conservative government.

But the decision to hit people on fixed incomes in one of the government’s first economic moves since winning a landslide election victory in July has caused disquiet in the center-left Labour Party. Seventeen Labour lawmakers backed a call to postpone the cut.

“Tough decisions are unpopular decisions,” Starmer told his Cabinet on Monday, telling ministers that “we have to fix the foundations of our economy and that means tough choices.”

Labour’s large House of Commons majority meant the government easily voted down, by a margin of 348-228, an attempt to overturn the cut. Only one Labour lawmaker voted with the opposition, along with several legislators serving suspensions from the party over a previous rebellion. Many Labour MPs backed the move after expressing doubts, while 53 did not vote. Of these, some had authorized absences while others deliberately abstained.

“It’s my conscience that I cannot vote for these measures," said one, Rachael Maskell.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves on Monday had urged unity, telling