By james art A County Durham MP has faced calls from the public to resign as chair of the board of Age UK Gateshead after voting to cut winter fuel payments.
Blaydon and Consett MP Liz Twist is Chair of the Board of Age UK Gateshead.
The MP voted alongside Labor to cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, which is expected to be formally announced in Wednesday’s Budget.
Ms Twist is the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, a role that involves relaying the views of backbench MPs to Downing Street to help with party governance.
She was appointed chair of Age UK Gateshead in 2023, saying in a Facebook post that she was “thrilled” to take on the role.
But after voting alongside the government to cut fuel surcharges over the winter, her position as chairman of the local charity’s board has come under scrutiny, with some constituents branding her “hypocritical”.
A number of Blaydon and Consett residents emailed the charity to demand that Ms Twist step down from her role on the board.
A social media commenter said: “Age UK had a petition to keep the winter fuel payment but our MP voted against keeping it while he was chair of Age UK Gateshead.”
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Another said: “How could you vote to get rid of winter fuel payments? Hypocrisy at its finest’.
Rumors swirled that the MP had stepped down from the role last week, but Ms Twist hit back at those reports in a statement released on Friday.
“I have not resigned as chair of Age UK Gateshead,” she said.
“Over the last year it has been a privilege to work in this role, supporting an amazing charity which is making a real difference to the lives of over 50s in Gateshead.
I want to pay tribute to the staff and volunteers who go the extra mile to give people the support they need.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said decisions such as cutting winter fuel payments were due to the state the Tories had left the country in.
“Stabilizing our economy is the first step to [Labour’s] long-term,” the prime minister said in a speech to the Labor Party conference in September.
“[It is] the only way we can keep prices down, reduce NHS waiting lists and deliver the triple lock so that every pensioner in this country, every pensioner, is better off with work.”