A pensioner and loyal GB News viewer has branded a Labour Party activist "a disgrace" during a heated exchange over the controversial Winter Fuel Allowance cuts.Anita Atkinson from Durham confronted Chris Worrall on GB News after he described pensioners as "a bunch of rich, entitled people who don't deserve any help".READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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00:00...who matters, which is GB News viewer and pensioner Anita Atkinson from Durham.
00:05Anita, thank you for holding there whilst we debated amongst ourselves.
00:08Thank you for joining us this afternoon.
00:10What's your take on the winter fuel allowance policy?
00:12Have you been affected, first of all?
00:15Oh, yes, I've been affected. I'm a pensioner.
00:17Yes, I've been affected.
00:19And actually, I've never, ever in the whole of my life,
00:24and I've worked all my life, and I have brought up three children.
00:27I'm now a grandparent to five children.
00:30All of my children work.
00:32My husband works. I worked.
00:34And I've never been on benefits in my life.
00:37But I did hear one day how the pensions were classed as a benefit.
00:42I don't want the benefit, if that's what it is.
00:46I don't want your winter fuel allowance, if you're going to class that as a benefit.
00:50I've worked my way through life.
00:52All of my family have.
00:54And I'm still working now, actually.
00:56You're still working?
00:58And do you know what?
00:59I worked 22 years as a newspaper editor without a holiday, seven days a week.
01:07No holiday.
01:08I went away, but I was never off duty.
01:10I worked all that time.
01:12I'm better off, actually, as a pensioner.
01:14Yeah.
01:16Anita, they don't make them like you anymore, let me tell you, especially as a newspaper editor, which is no easy task.
01:21Local newspapers, what's the remit?
01:23Yeah, it was a local community newspaper that I worked for.
01:30On minimum wage, I think I maybe got paid 28 hours a week.
01:34I certainly worked between 60 and 80 hours a week.
01:37I wrote 60 to 80 newspaper stories every two weeks.
01:42And to class my pension as a benefit is an absolute disgrace.
01:47I paid tax all that time.
01:49I paid national insurance all that time.
01:51I've never had a benefit in my life.
01:54But do you know, Ben, countries, societies, they judged on how they treat their most vulnerable.
02:01Yep.
02:01So what does that say about our country?
02:03Finally, what would you like to say to Chris, to Chris Rowe here?
02:06He says pensioners are just a bunch of rich, entitled people who don't deserve any help.
02:10Which one?
02:11Well, I tell you what, Chris, I actually feel rich now because of the pension, because I get more pension than I do ever working for a wage.
02:18And I never once had one day's sick.
02:21I never had one day's holiday in all of that time.
02:24But do you know what?
02:25What you're talking about, the winter fuel allowance is given to families on low incomes.
02:31These are families that are working, Chris.
02:33They're working and they still can't afford to heat their homes in the winter.
02:37You're a disgrace.
02:39An absolute disgrace.
02:40Well, you know, I'll tell you what, Anita, when you've got two people working 60-hour weeks, struggling to afford nappies and you're getting taxed the way we are,
02:46you've got to talk about intergenerational fairness.
02:49We're not talking about the vulnerable.
02:51We're talking about the rich, five-bedroom-owning, wine-cellared, well-off, not getting the winter cruise allowance.
02:57And that is the main thing.
02:58What is this about the cruise?
02:58It's a small percentage.
03:00It's a protecting the vulnerable.
03:01You'll go and live with Anita for a week.
03:04Mine are not a new person.
03:05OK.