CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride has called the cull on the winter fuel payment a ‘complete shock’ to pensioners.

Mr Stride, the shadow work and pensions secretary, had called the decision to scrap the payment as ‘absurd’.

Speaking in the Commons during the debate over the controversial issue, Mr Stride said the proposal’s ‘lack of scrutiny’ was ‘impossible to justify’.

He said there had been no explanation on why there has been no impact assessments or why the decision was so urgent.

‘This is not good governing,’ he told the Commons.

Before the controversial vote on the payment, Mr Stride, who is in the running to be the new leader of the Conservative Party, said the policy would cause ‘untold hardship to millions’.

Opponents have failed to block the government plans with a total of 348 MPs backing the government, with 228 supporting the opposition motion.