Amid mounting pressure for the Government to U-turn on means testing winter fuel payments, Dame Diana Johson defended the measure, saying that the prime minister had to make tough decisions to fix a "black hole worth £22 billion" in the economy. The policing minister said that the Government was working to ensure all pensioners who were entitled to pension credit claimed the benefit. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Across government, the Chancellor is having to look at where she knows there's a black hole worth £22 billion,
00:07and she's put forward this proposal. It's a really difficult decision, but I trust the Chancellor to put this forward,
00:14alongside the need to make sure that everyone who's entitled to pension credit,
00:20and that's often the most vulnerable and poorest pensioners, are getting that,
00:24because if you get pension credit, it will allow you then to passport into inter-fuel allowance.
00:30The Prime Minister has been really clear that in order to get the economy back on its feet,
00:35we need to make difficult decisions.
00:37As I say, I fully understand why many people are concerned about this,
00:43and that's why it's important that these are put into the context of other steps
00:48to try and support those people who are going to be affected by this decision of Parliament.