The government is set to go ahead with cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners across the country.

A number of Kent MPs took part in the vote, which took place yesterday afternoon (September 10) in the Commons.

The payments help millions of elderly people during November and December.

Either £200 or £300 is usually given towards their heating bills.

In July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves proposed to start means-testing the payment. The eligibility for the benefit would be limited to only the poorest pensioners.

As a result, the number of payments would fall from 11.4 million to 1.5 million this winter – saving around £1.5 billion a year.

Age UK’s charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “The reality is that driving through this policy as the government is doing will make millions of poor pensioners poorer still and we are baffled as to why some ministers are asserting that this is the right thing to do.”

A Conservative motion to block the measure was voted on yesterday in the Houses of Parliament. It was defeated by 348 to 288 votes – a majority of 120.

However 52 MPs, including seven ministers, decided not to record a vote. Two of which were from Kent.

A dozen of those did not have permission to miss the vote and are thought to have abstained in protest at the policy.

One Labour backbencher, Jon Trickett, opposed the government in supporting the Tory motion.

Ms Reeves insisted it is “absolutely right” to means-test the benefit in order to address the “black hole” in the public finances.

She said: “We faced a situation when I became Chancellor that there was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances this year.

“That meant we had to make difficult decisions, tough decisions, to get a grip of those public finances so that we could bring stability back to the economy.

“These weren’t decisions that I wanted to make. They weren’t decisions that I expected to make, but in the circumstances that we faced it was absolutely right to make sure that our public finances were on a firmer footing.

“Because only through doing that do we have the chance to bring stability back to our economy and start to grow the economy after 14 years of stagnation.”

Despite the opposition to the measure, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said there are no plans to scale back the policy.

How Kent MPs voted on the Conservative motion to block the bill for winter fuel payment changes:

Ashford – Sojan Joseph (Lab) – No

Canterbury – Rosie Duffield (Lab) – No vote recorded

Chatham and Aylesford – Tris Osborne (Lab) – No

Dartford – Jim Dickson (Lab) – No

Dover and Deal – Mike Tapp (Lab) – No

East Thanet – Polly Billington (Lab) – No

Faversham and Mid Kent – Helen Whately (Con) – Yes

Folkestone and Hythe – Tony Vaughan (Lab) – No

Gillingham and Rainham – Naushabah Khan (Lab) – No vote recorded

Gravesham – Lauren Sullivan (Lab) – No

Herne Bay and Sandwich – Roger Gale (Con) – Yes

Maidstone and Malling – Helen Grant (Con) – Yes

Rochester and Strood – Lauren Edwards (Lab) – No

Sevenoaks – Laura Trott (Con) – Yes

Sittingbourne and Sheppey – Kevin McKenna (Lab) – No

Tonbridge – Tom Tugendhat (Con) – Yes

Tunbridge Wells – Mike Martin (Lib) – Yes

Weald of Kent – Katie Lam (Con) – Yes