A CAMPAIGNING pensioner who has worked since she was 15 has slammed the new UK government's decision to make the winter fuel allowance means-tested.

Ivy Siegfried, 86, is furious that the extra allowance has been snatched away from her.

The great-grandmother was a vocal critic of the previous Tory government's decision to throw out the free TV licence for all senior citizens.

She has now directed her anger towards the new Labour Government.

Ivy, of Dunlop Street, Greenock, said: "A lot of pensioners put money away for their retirement.

"Many had a penny or halfpenny insurance. They put money away, so they had money to bury them if they died.

"People scrimped and saved for their future and their old age.

"I worked since I was 15, first in a furniture shop in Terrace Road and then another shop for three years before I went to IBM.

"I went to America and worked as a housekeeper, and when I came back, I worked in IBM."

Ivy said that as a single parent she had never asked for any help, and the only thing she received was the free TV licence and winter fuel allowance.

The former secretary of Cowdenknowes Residents Association, also has health problems.

She was hospitalised after contracting Covid and has suffered from cancer of the thymus, an organ which helps develop the immune system, since she was 70.

This, and asthma, has affected her lungs, and she has canisters of oxygen at home.

She said: "Like many people of my generation, I worked and saved and when finally the government did give me something, the blue Tories took the TV licence away.

 "Now the red Tories have taken the winter fuel payment.

"What about the people who have never worked? Or didn't save for their retirement? They'll get the fuel allowance. It's not fair.

"What's it going to be like in the winter? I feel the cold, and it's colder here in Scotland.

"Scotland will have to withdraw it as well because they won't have the money."

The Scottish Government confirmed that it will follow the UK Government and make winter fuel payments, to be known as the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment when it takes over responsibility for the benefit this winter, means-tested.

Ivy says there is a bigger picture to all these cuts and slammed the way pensioners have been treated.

She said: "They like to tell us that our pensions are given to you. We've paid for those pensions. It's terrible; we have one of the lowest pensions in Europe."

Martin McCluskey, Labour MP for Inverclyde and West Renfrewshire, says 3,000 of the poorest pensioners in Inverclyde will still get help.

He said: "Both the UK and Scottish Governments have made the same decision to means test this payment meaning that the poorest pensioners will continue to receive it.

"In Inverclyde, that means around 3,000 pensioners will continue to receive the support.

“In March of this year, the Scottish Government’s poverty advisers recommended that the benefit should be means tested, long before any decision was made by the UK Government.

“I understand the strong feelings this decision has created. It’s not a decision this government enjoyed making. It was a very tough choice to make.

“Despite the mess we were left with, the new UK Government has committed to protecting the pensions triple lock, which will mean that over the next five years, more than 12 million pensioners will see their state pensions increase by thousands of pounds.

“The previous Tory government left a £22 billion black hole in the country’s finances. They knowingly overspent on departmental budgets, they covered it up, and then they called an election and ran away from the problem."

Stuart McMillan MSP says the Scottish Government were left with no choice but to make the benefit means-tested, because the UK Government's decision wiped an estimated £160m from the Scottish Government's budget.

"The decision by the Labour UK government to means test the Winter Fuel Payment ensures that pensioners in Inverclyde will face the brunt of Westminster economic chaos," Mr McMillan said.

“This decision, made in Westminster, has resulted in the Scottish Government’s budget being cut by an estimated £160m – as Labour picks up where the Tories left off by driving a coach and horses through the devolution settlement.

“I am strongly encouraging pensioners in Inverclyde to check if they are eligible for pension credit, to ensure that if they are, they will still receive the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment that they are entitled to.”