Welcome to this week's Branch Office Updates! 

LABOUR MPs voted to scrap the universal Winter Fuel Payment this week, stripping around 10 million pensioners of cash to help pay their heating bills as temperatures begin to fall.

It came despite warnings it could kill elderly people without even saving the Government money in the long run.

Labour, and Keir Starmer (oh, and Anas Sarwar) for that matter, have been widely condemned.

READ MORE: Glasgow Subway takes action after complaints of shaky carriages

SNP MP Kirsty Blackman skewered the Government for attempting to “balance the books on the backs of pensioners”, while the party’s deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart argued the cut would be felt more keenly in Scotland due to the colder climate.

(Image: PA)

Wendy Chamberlain, the LibDems’ work and pensions spokesperson, said her party accepted Labour had been “left with an unenviable task of re-building our economy after the mess left by the previous Government” – a fair point.

But she also said “cruelty [is] at the heart of this cut”.

In the wake of such criticism – which extends to unions and NGOs and human rights organisations – Labour MPs and party heavy hitters have clamoured to defend the move.

Wes Streeting claimed there is “fairness at the heart” of the Labour Government’s decision. OK.

Meanwhile, Labour MPs – including those from Glasgow – appear to have used a templated response which has then been edited.

I say this because all four Glasgow Labour MPs, in this article for The Glasgow Times, start (and continue their justification for voting for the cut with practically the exact same words. 

“This was not a decision anyone wanted to make,” said John Grady, the MP for Glasgow East.

Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) added: "This was not a decision anyone wanted to make but we have the worst economic inheritance since the Second World War.”

Martin Rhodes (Glasgow North) went on: "This was not a decision the government wanted to make.”

Patricia Ferguson, the MP for Glasgow West MP and now chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee said: “This was a very difficult decision and not one that I or any colleague would have wanted to make.”

READ MORE: Scottish Labour MPs will represent Keir Starmer, not Scotland

Maureen Burke and Zubir Ahmed, Glasgow two other Labour MPs, did not respond apparently.

This coincidence extends to MPs outside Scotland.

David Burton-Sampson, Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, also released a statements defending his voting position.

In a video statement posted to Facebook, he said: “I’m sorry. This is a decision we didn’t want to have to make”.

“It was not a decision that any Labour MP wanted to make,” said Labour’s Wrexham MP Andrew Ranger.

I’m sure these statement will be of much reassurance to freezing pensioners this winter.