Sam Hemsley, the Conservative candidate in the Woodhouse by-election, has called for Sheffield City Council to step in and fund winter fuel payments for pensioners this winter.

The government announced this summer that they’d be ending the payments, except for pensioners who receive pension credit.

The move is one of several that has seen Labour condemned by a number of voices for the perception that they broke promises made during the general election campaign.

Sam Hemsley, 21, argues that the decision has been a mistake: “Labour was wrong to have cut it, first because it breaks a manifesto promise, but secondly to take money from those who are most vulnerable – I disagree with.”

The government has been defending the decision since it was announced several months ago. As temperatures have dropped in recent weeks, there have been renewed calls for them to reconsider the policy.

Last Friday, the Prime Minister defended the cut to the payment on a round of local radio stations, saying it “made sense” to only give the winter fuel payment to those on pension credit, as previously all pensioners had received it, even those who were “relatively wealthy.”

Sam Hemsley says there is a sense of betrayal from residents he’s spoken to: “There are pensioners who have paid in their whole lives, and they need that money. The fact that it’s been taken away – I think they feel a sense of betrayal.

“Labour is meant to help those that are most vulnerable and yet some of our most vulnerable will be in a more precarious state this winter than they were before Labour got in power.”

Before the cut to the payment, the amount pensioners received was between £100 and £300 – depending on a number of factors, such as their age. Now, all those that receive the payment will get at least £200.

Sam argues Sheffield City Council can finance the payment if it redirects funds from what he says are “millions of pounds” of ill-judged investments in the city centre, such as the Sheffield Fargate container park. Former city councillor leader Terry Fox admitted last year the scheme was a “mistake” and it “never fulfilled” expectations.

Sam is also arguing that wards like Woodhouse, that are on the outskirts of Sheffield, are being neglected by the city’s politicians: “I think there is very much a sense that money is being spent in the city centre, not out into Woodhouse, Handsworth and other areas.”

According to Sam, residents are unhappy with emergency service response times to calls from the outskirts of the city, and there is dissatisfaction with preparation for the snowy and icy weather that the city has experienced in recent weeks. He reports conversations with residents: “It feels like it takes longer for the police to come out to Woodhouse than it used to. The amount of time it took for roads to be gritted in the icy weather was too slow.”

The Woodhouse ward by-election is taking place next Thursday. The contest was triggered after Paul Wood, the Sheffield Community Independents councillor for the ward passed away in September this year. If Sam is elected, he’ll become Sheffield’s only Conservative councillor.