Those of us of a certain age will remember the anthem of Tony Blair's first election victory in 1997: Things can only get better.

Well, Keir Starmer's anthem looks like: Things can only get worse.

When I started writing this newspaper column I said I would steer clear of party politics as far as possible.

But this new Labour Government's shocking and heartless decision to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners can't go without comment.

Indeed, last Thursday the county council voted overwhelmingly to call on the Government to think again. The vote was nearly unanimous with 43 councillors from all parties in favour and just one against.

This measure will - at a stroke - deprive tens of thousands of Devon residents of help to keep warm this winter with barely any warning.

The latest census puts the population of Devon at 826,319 of whom 214,594 are over the age of 65.  - well over a quarter.

It's estimated that nine out of ten pensioners will lose out because of Labour's decision so not far off 200,000 of our fellow citizens are likely to be deprived of up to £300 to help them keep warm this winter.

The Government's decision to pay the winter fuel payment only to people claiming Pension Credit or other benefits means that even those whose only income is a basic State pension won't qualify.

And on top of this, the energy price cap is going up by 10 per cent next month pushing more people into fuel poverty.

The Government claims they will save £1.4 billion by this  cut to help offset the £22 billion black hole they claim to have found.

But at the same time they've agreed above inflation pay increases for many members of the unions who've been staging damaging strikes.

Indeed they agreed an inflation-busing pay deal for striking train drivers who then proceeded to announce another round of industrial action.

With their new salaries, many of these workers will be paying more in tax than our pensioners have to live on every year.

It's estimated these pay increases will cost the country £10 billion, dwarfing the cash that will be saved from hitting some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

It may well be that some better-off pensioners do not need this money but by making the cap so low I am concerned the Labour Government is effectively forcing some of our most vulnerable residents to choose between heating and eating this winter.

Historically in Devon many buildings are older and hard to heat - the Government needs to realise that Devon’s residents don’t live in big cities but in rural areas.

Older people tend to spend more time at home and so need to keep the heating on for longer.

They're also more likely to have medical conditions which require them to keep warm.

Research has shown that rural areas in Devon are already in the most deprived 20 per cent nationally for housing quality and the availability of central heating.

With the proposed Energy Price Cap, the Government is creating a perfect storm for greater cost-of-living impacts on Devon’s residents.

As a county council we will do what we can to mitigate the effects of this heartless policy and we will be using all our communications efforts to encourage people who qualify for Pension Credit but don't currently claim to apply. It's estimated there are 800,000 pensioners nationally in this position.

But I firmly believe the Government should use their first Budget next month to announce they are withdrawing this and thinking again.