Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to axe winter fuel payments to help fill a budget black hole “has the potential to create a public health emergency”, campaigners have warned.

The Prime Minister prepared the way for tax hikes and spending cuts by saying the upcoming Budget will be “painful” for millions of Britons.

But the Government was warned pensioners should not be in the front line for financial pain caused by the cutbacks.

Charities explained how some will face the devastating choice between heating their homes and eating as energy bills rise and the winter fuel payment is means tested.

During a speech and press conference in the Downing Street rose garden, Sir Keir said he was trying to tackle a “rot” in the nation and stressed he “didn’t want” to cut universal cold weather payments for 10million pensioners.

But Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “The winter fuel payment axe is not about rot in the system, it is about basic fairness for older people facing soaring energy bills.

“In real terms, the changes this winter mean that some older people will face the highest energy bills on record.

“This has the potential to create a public health emergency which will actually create more pressure on the under-pressure NHS which the Prime Minister says he wants to fix.

“The impact of living in cold, damp homes is particularly harsh on those older people with a disability, a long-term health condition or with poor mental health. It results in people turning to the NHS and, in some cases, can result in additional winter deaths.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has estimated that scrapping the winter fuel benefit will save taxpayers £1.4billion a year.

The Prime Minister and Ms Reeves have come under fire for handing out inflation-busting pay rises - worth up to £10billion - to millions of public sector workers.

Downing Street said it was a “false economy” to suggest such increases could have been avoided amid a recruitment and retention crisis in many of Britain’s public services.

But critics slammed the Government for “prioritising the demands of their trade union paymasters” and laying “the groundwork for huge tax rises”.

Tory leadership frontrunner Kemi Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer is taking the British public for fools, but his dishonest analysis won’t wash.

“He campaigned on promises he couldn’t deliver and now he is being found out.

“At the election Starmer and his Energy Secretary told us energy bills would go down under Labour – six weeks later they are going up. To make matters worse, he is removing the winter fuel payment many pensioners rely on to pay those bills.

“Of course we made some mistakes in government. But remarkably, Labour are doubling down on those mistakes - from immigration to net zero policy. Worse still, they are prioritising the demands of their trade union paymasters over investment in public services.

“The truth is that Keir Starmer is managing voters’ expectations for a decade of decline. A Conservative Party led by me will not let him get away with it. We will be ready to take on Labour with a renewed vision for a better country in 2030.”

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly - who is also running to be the next Tory leader - added: “More meaningless drivel from Keir Starmer today as he tries to distract from his latest cronyism row.

“He says he wants to serve people; all he is serving them are tax rises. The Conservatives left Labour with low inflation, falling migration, and the highest growth in the G7.

“Yet the Labour government have waged war on pensioners, caved to their union paymasters and splurged millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on unaffordable pay rises for strikers.

“Keir Starmer was elected on a manifesto that he won’t stick to, and he is now rolling out a series of dishonest policies for which he has no democratic mandate.”

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick - who is another of the candidates to replace Rishi Sunak - said: “Sir Keir is shamelessly attempting to rewrite history.

“He was handed the fastest-growing G7 economy, inflation under control and reformed schools spreading opportunity.

“In the last 50 days, he has capitulated to the unions, jeopardised our energy and border security, and laid the groundwork for huge tax rises.

“This isn’t the kind of change the public were promised.”

Sir Keir said “things are worse than we ever imagined” because of a £22billion “black hole” in the public finances.

He claimed to have found out last week that the Tories had borrowed almost £5billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility expected.

He said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.

“Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.

“Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up - that’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on the water companies that let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.

“But, just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.

“And I know that, after all that you have been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer - that solves nothing.”

The Prime Minister said he was “not going to pre-empt the Budget” when pressed on what tax rises and spending decisions the Government is considering to announce on October 30, although he reiterated his pledge on the “triple lock for working people”.

“We were being honest about the situation before the election, we set out very clearly what we would be doing with tax rises,” he said.

“I made it clear on numerous occasions that National Insurance, VAT and income tax would not go up, the triple lock for working people, and that remains the position.

“I also set out that our plans were fully funded and fully costed. What I did not expect was a £22billion black hole.”

Sir Keir denied his remarks were “performative”, adding: “I didn’t want to have to deal with the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.

"We have to fix the NHS, we have to fix our homes, our schools, and pensioners rely on them in the same way as everybody else does, so I’m not going to pre-empt the Budget, but I am absolutely not going to accept that the inheritance that we have is anything other than dire - a £22billion black hole.”

The Government has also being accused of trying to “run away” from their decisions after parliamentary questions on the scrapping of the winter fuel payments were transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions.

This means Ms Reeves will not have to face repeated questions over the hated decision.

Former Tory minister Esther McVey told the Daily Express: “It is bad enough that Rachel Reeves has decided to remove the winter fuel payments from 10million pensioners without any democratic mandate at all.

“But to then run away from any questions in Parliament about that decision has turned her callousness into cowardice.

“If she is not prepared to defend this policy in Parliament then she should do the decent thing and scrap it.”

Petition

A petition by Silver Voices to save the winter fuel payment has now topped 90,000 signatures.

We are asking readers to tell us why they need the winter fuel payment by emailing news.desk@express.co.uk or filling out our campaign coupon.

To sign the petition calling for the winter fuel payment to be saved, click here.