It comes amid plummeting temperatures in Scotland and across the UK with lows of minus 16C, the coldest of the winter so far, expected in the Highlands – a stark difference to the temperatures felt further south.
“Energy bills continue to rise and the winter fuel allowance has been unacceptably taken away from so many vulnerable pensioners,” the SNP’s Westminster leader told MPs in the Commons.
READ MORE: NC500 residents rage at ‘dangerous’ car rally plans
“The Prime Minister intimated prior to Christmas that he had no regrets about any of the decisions that he has taken in office,” he added.
“Does he understand that the public do?”
NEW: SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn asked Keir Starmer if he understood public concerns as temperatures drop
🗣️ ‘The Prime Minister intimated prior to Christmas he had no regrets about any of the decisions he has taken in office, does he understand that the public do?’ pic.twitter.com/RUNJaeKjVq
— The National (@ScotNational) January 8, 2025
Starmer responded: “We took some tough decisions. They led to a Budget which delivered the largest settlement since devolution began to Scotland.
“If he thinks we should now reverse that, then he should say so.”
The lowest temperatures will be recorded in rural Scotland and rural northern England where there is lying snow, cloudless skies and very cold airflow.
A temperature of minus 14C would equal the lowest seen in this month last year, recorded in Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands on January 17 2024.
But a temperature of minus 16C would be the lowest recorded in January in the UK for 15 years, since minus 22.3C was logged in Altnaharra in the Highlands on January 8 2010, according to Met Office data.
Lows of minus 20C have not been reached since minus 23C was recorded at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, in February 2021.