The vote on the last day of his party’s annual conference in Liverpool, northwest England, is non-binding but its outcome is nonetheless embarrassing for the premier.

It highlights the strength of feeling among activists and union backers against removing winter fuel payments for about 10 million elderly people.

Starmer, who has been prime minister since July, has said the move was necessary to fill gaps in public finances, but it has sparked anger that has overshadowed his first weeks in power.

Delegates narrowly backed a union motion calling for the cut to be reversed during a show of hands in the main conference hall.

“I do not understand how our new Labour Government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super rich untouched,” said the Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham.

Previously, the payment, worth up to £300 (US$400), was for all pensioners. Starmer wants to limit it to poorer pensioners.

He has acknowledged that the cut is “unpopular” but insists that it would help close a £22 billion “black hole” in government coffers that Labour claims they inherited from the Tories.

He later told Channel 4 News that “I do understand how… colleagues in the Labour movement feel about this. This is clearly a difficult decision but a motion at conference doesn’t dictate government policy.”

Starmer easily won a vote on the issue in parliament this month due to Labour’s 167-seat majority that it claimed in the July 4 election.

Starmer told the conference on Tuesday that the UK must embark on a “shared struggle” as he seeks to fix what he sees as the fallout from 14 years of Conservative rule.

However, there is “light at the end of this tunnel”, he insisted.