Labour's winter fuel payment cuts are just the beginning, warns Tom Tugendhat

Broken promises and cronyism - all while preaching a better way of doing politics during their Conference season.

You're going to have to be really rich or rely on a Labour donor before you can afford to vote Labour again.

But worst of all, this government has chosen to give in to the union barons while stripping pensioners of their Winter Fuel Allowance.

And that is the key word - choice. Yes, government is about making hard choices. But it is also about making the right choices.

And this government is focusing on more control, more bureaucracy and less on results, less on people all while lining union barons' pockets.

Pensioners on as little as £221.20 a week will see their Winter Fuel Allowance ripped away, leaving many of them cold and vulnerable this winter.

But this is just the beginning. The government has told us to prepare for a "painful" Budget filled with tax rises. Because that is what Labour do - they promise change, when in fact all they do is break promises, hike taxes and give inflation-busting payoffs to the unions.

They can lie and try to blame the Conservatives all they want. We all know the truth. We left a growing economy, record levels of employment and low inflation. It's no surprise no credible economist supports Labour's claims.

Again, it is their choice to punish the British people and blame others. This isn't leadership, it's cowardness. It's acting like you're still in opposition when the country wants leadership.

But we cannot allow them to drag us back to the 1970s. We cannot allow them to leave our pensioners cold this winter. We cannot allow them to pay their cronies and leave the taxpayer to pick up the bill.

Our pensioners and our country deserve better. Our party needs to give our country the leadership Labour cannot. A party that serves the British people, not union paymasters and Labour donors. That will lead with conservative values and act to deliver lower taxes, reduce immigration and reform public services. This is what our nation wants.