Upset pensioners in winter fuel cut demo outside Ed Miliband's Doncaster office

Around 50 Unite the Union retired members and local constituents held a protest at the MP’s Bentley office after he failed to attend a meeting that he had been invited to.

The protestors waited to discuss the findings of a recent survey conducted by the union on people’s opinions on their struggles to afford energy and the cuts to the winter fuel allowance at St Peter’s Church Hall.

But when Ed, who was spotted canvassing in Scawthorpe at the same time as the event, didn’t arrive, the group descended on his office, chanting their disapproval whilst burning fuel bills on a brazier as an act of defiance at the £111 hike in the energy cap announced by Ofgem a few days before.

One Bentley resident said: “I have been chatting with my friends about this event today because I believe its important to make a stand at the ridiculous rising cost of energy.

"One of them has just texted me to say Ed has been on her road in Scawthorpe just now posting flyers. I can’t believe that Ed couldn’t even give us just a few minutes to have a chat with concerned constituents. To be honest, I’m disgusted.

A Unite spokesperson said: “We wrote to Ed back in January asking for a suitable meeting room to be booked to address residents concerns around the present state of UK energy and its future.

"We finally got a response last Thursday, but we were informed Ed had an important prior engagement.

"If he’d have been here, Ed would have been told in no uncertain terms that the double whammy of winter fuel payment cuts and rising fuel bills are causing real hardship, something that isn’t lost on Reform, who are clearly their main rivals for council seats in May.

“The council has made efforts to protect low-income pensioners this winter, but Labour councillors need to be able to draw a clear line between the good work they have done locally, and the policy mistake of the WFP cuts created by the national party.

"These cuts will have a negative effect on the lives of pensioners in Doncaster and across the UK year after year.

“Furthermore, if the Labour government continues to refuse to reinstate the WFP, it must accept that this will turn working-class people away from the party and potentially into the hands of right-wing parties.”