If you have young children, or young grandchildren, you might have marvelled at them in winter.

Their willingness to run around in shorts and a t-shirt when most of us are looking out our scarves and gloves seems crazy. As we age, we feel the cold. And the older we get, the more we need to be protected from the cold.

I reflected on this earlier in the week, as I voted on the Government’s proposed changes to Winter Fuel Allowance.

I, along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues, opposed this change. We felt that the removal of the Winter Fuel Allowance from all but the very poorest pensioners was too sweeping. While few people would argue that the wealthiest older people need Winter Fuel Allowance, the new Government has sought to make too many older people ineligible for the payment. Drawing the line at those older people who receive pension credit would leave too many poorer older people shivering this winter.

Of course, there have been examples of Government largesse in recent years, with taxpayers’ money wasted as a result. Yet if homes had been insulated over the last decade at the rate that the Coalition Government was doing in 2012, it would not have been necessary for the Government to have spent almost £40bn on supporting all of us with our energy bills in the winter of 2022-23. Rather than paying for heat to go through the roof, I would prefer proper insulation of homes. That would bring winter fuel savings for all of us, every year.

Liberal Democrats introduced the Triple Lock on the state pension in the Coalition Government. Uniquely, it was in our 2010 manifesto – and we delivered on it. I have heard the new Government suggest that it is somehow okay to remove the Winter Fuel Payment because older people will receive an additional £400 – owing to the continued application of the Triple Lock.

The Triple Lock is not some sort of bonus Government giveaway – it is designed so that the value of the state pension is not eroded by inflation.

At the time of writing, I have had tens – and nearly hundreds – of emails about the Winter Fuel Allowance. I am grateful to you for writing to me to share your views. I have sought to represent them in Parliament this week, as I strive to do every week. While many of us are turning our heating up, older people are not able to work a few extra hours to pay the bills.