The latest winter fuel payout: Starmer and Reeves face a showdown on Tuesday with the rebels as MPs vote for a split cut

There was no discussion on reducing the impact of winter fuel cuts in the Cabinet on Monday, Downing Street said after Home Office ministers suggested the policy could be reached.

The whip to vote on the Government’s plan to scrap winter fuel allowances for all but the country’s poorest pensioners has also not been discussed in Cabinet, Downing Street has said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was “very unhappy” that he had to vote to “take money” from pensioners by cutting their winter fuel allowance.

But Mr Streeting pointed to the government’s argument that the move was essential to balance public finances because the prime minister had not ruled out suspending MPs for opposing the government in Parliament.

Half a million people have now signed an Age UK petition calling on Sir Keir Starmer’s government to rethink plans to cut winter fuel payments.

Labor frontbenchers and MPs have reportedly feared Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ “brutal” plans to scrap winter fuel allowances for all but the poorest pensioners will put more older people in hospital.

With MPs due to vote on the policy on Tuesday, Labor politicians have expressed their concerns amid a flood of worried emails from constituents reported by The Independent to have shocked the new MP in particular.

In the words to The GuardianAnonymous Labor MPs lined up to deliver the volume of correspondence they have received on the issue, with one saying: “I don’t think there is a Labor MP who isn’t worried… I’ve had more people stop me on the road than through Brexit. The pensioners are just ask them not to do this.

One cabinet source complained to the newspaper that the policy “hasn’t been properly thought through”, warning: “We will end up with more elderly people in hospital or care as a result, with all the costs we have to do.”

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So is the latest Labor MP to speak on the record, Rosie Duffield told BBC Radio 4 Today program there: “I think all members of parliament have been flooded with emails. It’s not just the constituents who are affected – also their families and people who are very concerned.

Ms Duffield added: “I’ve had letters – I’ve all had them – from people with illnesses like cancer, and doctors have told me how important it is to keep warm.

“Human life is our duty to protect and we know that these people will feel cold and it will affect their health. This is my biggest worry – that we will see people die … it just feels so cruel.

According to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, about 4,950 died in the winter before last because of living in cold homes.

Labor MPs have backed warnings that pensioners are “going to die” as a result of the government’s proposed winter fuel allowance cuts, reports report. Holly Patrick.

Speaking to LBC on Sunday, John McDonnell said: “Well, it’s not me who said it. Some MPs have had meetings with agencies that represent the elderly … they say there is a real risk that people will die, because we have excess deaths in winter.

The former pensions secretary has suggested that the government could target winter fuel payments using a scheme similar to that used for cost of living payments, including based on entitlement to house prices.

Former Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb, told Radio 4’s World at One program that, for some, losing future fuel payments will be the same as losing out on a week’s pension, meaning that many will “have to cut costs”.

He added: “Many people will accept winter fuel payments from people financially at the top – but this also excludes people close to the bottom.”

Britain’s top trade union leader has warned Sir Keir Starmer that a lack of hope and a new round of austerity will fuel the rise of the far-right in forgotten communities and fuel Nigel Farage’s drive to win power.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) who is now president of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has warned Sir Keir that his power mandate based on collapsing support for the Tories “doesn’t love Labour”.

Mr Wrack made it clear he was angry about plans to take away future fuel payments for 10 million pensioners and warned against using the “black hole” as a pretext for an agenda of spending cuts.

“I think there are some statements that are a bit worrying,” he said. “The Labor manifesto says there will be no return to austerity, and the unions will insist. We’ve been told to tighten our belts for a long time, and I don’t think anyone is willing to take it any more.

Our political editor David Maddox more in this report: