UNITE’s Bristol retired members branch cornered Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Bristol North West MP Darren Jones as he held a coffee morning in his constituency at the weekend, demanding the government drop its attack on pensioners’ winter fuel payments.

The union has been campaigning in towns and cities across Britain for a rethink of the decision to means-test the payment, which will hit older people this winter as energy prices rise yet again.

“Jones had obviously been tipped off by his minders as he sat in his car for several minutes and was then ushered into the ‘coffee morning’ via a back door, which was instantly relocked,” a local activist told the Morning Star.