Labour MPs are demanding Sir Keir Starmer scrap cuts to winter fuel payments to avoid “a Reform wipeout” in future elections. And some think he will be forced to make a climbdown before the weather turns cold again at Christmas. Demands for a rethink follow the stunning success of Reform in last week’s local elections.

Labour lost nearly two thirds of the seats it was defending, with Reform taking control of Durham County Council, in Labour’s red-wall north east heartland, and winning the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, a seat previously held by Sir Keir’s party. MPs and other senior party figures say voters were furious with the decision to remove the winter fuel subsidy from 10 million pensioners and told them so on the doorstep.

One Labour MP said the party won last year’s general election by focusing on the cost of living, but then made the problem worse for elderly people once in government.

Highlighting winter fuel payments and the removal of disability benefit Personal Independence Payments (PIP) from some claimants, they said: “Reinstating winter fuel and revisiting PIP changes are the minimum that must be done if we want to prevent a Reform wipeout.”

The MP told the Financial Times: “That would be a very tough sell anyway but when coupled with countless millions the government can find to house young men arriving on boats every day, it is unsustainable to say we just can’t afford the winter fuel payment or PIP.”

Another Labour MP said: “I’m sure the government is reflecting on the issues that contributed to the losses last week, including winter fuel payments and disability and health benefits.”

Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said welfare reforms and the loss of winter fuel payments were “totemic” for many voters.

Ms Haigh, who resigned as a Cabinet minister in November, criticised Labour’s official response to the election defeat, which was to insist the public wants the government to go “further and faster”. She said: “The government’s response on Friday was alarming. It failed to acknowledge any need to change course but simply committed itself to double down on the plan, whilst haemorrhaging votes to the parties of our left and right.”

And she said: “From the significant increase in the minimum wage and enormous investment in our NHS, to the largest expansion of employment rights in our history or serious action on tackling sewage in our waters, this Labour government has a lot to offer.

“But welfare reforms and the loss of the winter fuel allowance were the primary examples offered as to why the Labour government simply did not look like it understood their priorities. Both have become totemic for many voters.”

Changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves stripped more than nine million pensioners of the right to receive winter fuel payments of up to £300. Only those receiving benefits such as Pension Credit are now eligible.

It means single people with an annual income above £11,344, or couples with a combined income of £17,314, are considered too wealthy to need the payments, although there can be exceptions for carers or people with severe disabilities. In addition, around 700,000 people entitled to Pension Credit do not claim it, meaning they miss out on winter fuel payments too.

The Government has admitted the decision will force up to 100,000 additional people into relative poverty.