ONE of East Ayrshire's two new Labour MPs falsely claimed that the SNP Government had already ‘made a decision to means test the winter fuel payment’ as she defended voting to scrap the fund to millions of pensioners.

Former councillor Lillian Jones, now MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, made the claim after an SNP councillor hit out at her backing the cut on social media.

Both Ms Jones and her party colleague Elaine Stewart, the MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, voted against a Conservative motion opposing the cut.

The Labour Government says the controversial move was necessary to tackle a £22 billion ‘hole’ in the UK’s finances it says it only discovered after it took power.

Following the vote in the House of Commons, SNP Councillor Graham Barton posted to X: “I am sure Kilmarnock and Loudoun pensioners will remember how @lillianjonesmp voted this afternoon.”

He also referenced Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s pre-election pledge that there would be no austerity under a Labour government.

The MP responded by posting a link to a news story along with the comment: “SNP decision to means test winter fuel payment 4 months before the General Election.”

However, another SNP councillor, Clare Maitland, hit back, pointing out that the Scottish Government had made no such decision at the time and that the story made no reference to the claim made by the MP.

Instead the story reported on a consultation on the future of the winter fuel payment. The Scottish Government made a decision on means testing after the UK Government announced its own plans.

In a response to the Scottish Government consultation, the Poverty and Inequality Commission, expressed a view that a more targeted approach to payments would be more effective in tackling poverty than a universal payment.

The same article also reports that another group, Age Scotland, opposed any move from the universal payment, warning that it could impact many vulnerable older people.

Cllr Maitland added: “You’re wrong. The article doesn’t say that. If true it would have been all over the media.

“Your post is embarrassing, but your vote is shameful. “