Government plans that could deny winter fuel payments to nearly 15,000 Woking pensioners are being opposed by the town’s MP, Will Forster.

Mr Forster is joining his Liberal Democrat colleagues in calling on the Labour Government to rethink the plans to scrap the payment to pensioners who do not receive pension credit. In Woking, this figure is 14,847 people, according to figures compiled by the House of Commons Library based on data from the Department of Work and Pensions.

The tax-free payment of between £100 and £300, with most pensioners receiving £200, was introduced by the previous Labour Government in 1997.

Across the country, 11 million pensioners are set to lose their winter fuel payment under the Government’s plans, including two million that the charity Age UK has said will struggle to afford their energy bills as a result. This is despite the average energy bill being set to rise by £149 a year from October.

Forster said: “I’ve heard from countless pensioners across Woking and our villages who are worried about losing this vital support and how they will afford their energy bills this winter.”

“Stripping support from many of the poorest pensioners in Woking just when energy bills are set to rise again is simply wrong.  It could force vulnerable elderly people in our community to choose between eating and heating this winter.

“That is why me and my fellow Lib Dem MPs will do everything we can to block these plans as soon as Parliament returns.

“I recognise that the new Government faces difficult choices. But a rethink is urgently needed so that poorer and vulnerable pensioners in our community continue to get the support they so desperately need.”

All 72 Lib Dem MPs have signed a document known as a prayer, a process to trigger a debate in Parliament, which returned from its summer recess this week.