Deputy PM and Labour firebrand shown historical tweet criticising Conservatives over possible winter fuel payment cuts.
Angela Rayner was left squirming when she was put on the spot over an old social media post goading the Tories for plotting to slash winter fuel payments.
The Deputy Prime Minister was shown the tweet from 2017 when she asked then-PM Theresa May about plans in the Conservative election manifesto, which were later abandoned.
The post said: “Will May confirm that 10million pensioners will lose their winter fuel payments if the Tories are re-elected?”
Speaking this morning, Ms Rayner blamed the Tories for the state of the public finances.
She said: “Since then we’ve had Liz Truss’s disastrous budget and we’ve got a £22 billion black hole.”
Angela Rayner faced a grilling on Sky News (Image: SKY NEWS)
Pressed on if her change might seem “duplicitous”, she added: “No, there’s a lot of things that over my lifetime as a politician that I would really want to be doing now.
“But because of the economy is in a very different place because of the actions of the previous government we can’t do those things.
“By getting the economy back on track, by putting growth at the centre of what we’re trying to achieve, we’ll start to have that renewal and fix some of these problems.
“Because we saw when the economy went out of control that damaged and impacted on pensioners the most because they’re on their fixed income and interest rates have a real impact on pensioners.”
The tweet was posted in the run-up to the 2017 General Election, when Mrs May lost the Conservative Party’s majority.
During an interview on the BBC, she was also shown another tweet from 2017 which said: “The Tories want to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners in England but not in Scotland. Why do they treat pensioners so badly in England?”
It comes as the Labour Government is facing a major backlash over its decision to restrict previously universal winter fuel payments to only those on pension credit.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves blamed the state of the public finances when she unveiled the controversial move in July, accusing the Tories of leaving a £22billion black hole.
But the move has sparked criticism from opposition parties, charities and even some Labour politicians.