Councillors are being asked to take action to support pensioners who will struggle without the winter fuel allowance.
The Conservatives are due to propose a motion on Thursday (19 December) when Brighton and Hove City Council is scheduled to meet.
They plan to call for action on the government’s move to make the winter fuel allowance a means-tested benefit.
Conservative leader Alistair McNair said that the Labour Party’s own research estimated that up to 4,000 pensioners could die this winter if they lose out on the support which is worth up to £300.
Councillor McNair wants the council to ensure those who need support but do not receive pension credits or other means-tested benefits can be helped by the Brighton and Hove Fuel Payment Support Fund.
He also wants the council’s chief executive Jess Gibbons to write to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves asking for an immediate review of the decision.
Councillor McNair said: “It’s one of the most important things the Labour Party has done since they came into power – the first thing they did was attack old people.
“They’re attacked in two ways – one they lose their allowance and two fuel prices are going up.
“We were promised by Ed Miliband that fuel prices would go down by £300 a year and they’re going to go up by that instead.
“Instead of protecting some of the most vulnerable people in the country, they’re attacking them. And they’ve given, at the same time, train drivers and junior doctors a huge pay increase.
“When you retire, you’ve worked all your life or you need the state to look after you and they’ve taken it away. It saves peanuts in the grand scheme of things.”
Councillor McNair said that for those who did not need the allowance, the government could have created a mechanism to return the payment.
A petition calling on the council to write to the Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer asking him to reverse the winter fuel payment decision has attracted 1,266 signatures and is listed for debate.
The petition, on the Change.org website, was created by Michael Noble. It said that 41,806 people in Brighton and Hove received the allowance and about 35,000 of them would lose out this year.
The petition said: “By restricting eligibility … in this way this government has potentially plunged large numbers of older people into fuel poverty rendering them vulnerable to hypothermia and premature death.
“This is particularly unjust because, by the government’s own calculations around 1 in 3 pensioners who should be getting pension credit are not receiving it. These are among the most vulnerable people in society.”
The meeting of the full council is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday (19 December) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
