SNP First Minister John Swinney warned Anglea Rayner today hat “tens of thousands” of pensioners in Scotland will be affected by means-testing winter fuel payments.

Mr Swinney, who met the Deputy PM at Bute House, told her that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision last month to limit the payment to pensioners claiming income-related benefits would cost the Scottish government £160 million.

This would force Holyrood to mirror Labour’s policy in the Scottish version, known as the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.