The chairman of an influential pensioners’ group has given his backing to Labour plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance for the richest five per cent of pensioners.

John Coombes of the Redbridge Pensioners Forum was speaking after shadow chancellor Ed Balls set out a series of likely cuts which he said Labour would need to consider if it won the next election.

In his announcement, Mr Balls said: “We have to make difficult choices about priorities for public spending and strike the right balance between universal and targeted support.

“At a time when public services that pensioners and others rely on are under strain it can no longer be a priority to pay the winter allowance to the wealthiest pensioners.”

Mr Coombes said: “This will save £100 million and it’s a saving which I think has a certain inevitability about it.

“I see the logic behind it, but I do worry about how they would judge who is eligible and who is not.

"The last thing we want to see is means testing.”

Mr Coombes said he and his wife would still be eligible for fuel allowance under Labour’s proposed changes.

He added: “We rely on it as do many others. So while I see why these changes are being proposed it is important that they are not extended downwards.”