EU 'link to Britain' rule sparks record £21m in winter fuel payments abroad Previously, the winter fuel benefit of between £200 and £300 went to pensioners who were "ordinarily" a UK resident. The judgement meant the number of pensioners receiving the benefit leapt by 60 per cent to 119,587. Yesterday's figures showed that £8.8 million went to ex-pats and pensioners in Spain, up £3.1 million, while £5.1 million went to those in France. The number of people claiming the benefit in Ireland more than doubled to 18,963. Iain Duncan Smith, secretary of state for work and pensions, insisted the Government was acting to cut the bill. The Chancellor in June said payments to pensioners in warm countries would stop from 2015. Mr Duncan Smith said: "The huge increase in UK winter fuel payments made to people living in EEA countries equates to a near doubling in costs to the British taxpayer and follows a ridiculous ruling by the European Courts of Justice. From winter 2015-16 we are changing the rules so that it no longer goes to people in EEA countries with an average temperature higher than the warmest part of the UK. But Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, said the Government should stop all payments to people living outside of Britain. He said: "The winter fuel allowance is a poorly targeted and costly benefit in any case, but rulings from the European Court of Justice are exacerbating the problem. Decisions over who is eligible to receive the payment should be taken by those we elect, not unaccountable judges in Luxembourg. With many people struggling to pay their energy bills in Britain, it's ridiculous that the payment is being exported across the EU regardless. He added: "It would be far better to tax those living in the UK far less in the first place instead." The £21.4 million paid out to ex-pats and pensioners is enough to pay annual household energy bill of the entire population of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire or Whitby, North Yorkshire. In all the Government paid out £2.1 billion-worth of winter fuel payments in 2012-2013. Details of the payouts come amid growing political tension over the price of energy in the UK. EDF Energy was the latest to announce an increase in prices yesterday, saying its gas and electricity rates would rise by 3.9 per cent in January. At the same time the National Audit Office warned that households in the UK faced 17 years of above inflation price rises for energy to pay for £310 billion-worth of investment in new infrastructure. Paul Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader said the scale of winter fuel payments to people based in Europe was "absurd." He said: "Once again the EU puts its nose where it's not welcome and helps itself to money from the pockets of British taxpayers. The fact that some foreign pensioners abroad will now receive winter fuel allowance is simply madness. Once again we hear the Tories complain about the situation but this has gone on with a Conservative Prime Minister in office. But one ex-pat living in southern Spain, Chris Monsour, told The Daily Telegraph: "On what grounds should someone arbitarily differentiate between someone who choose to lives overseas and has paid tax, and someone who chooses to live in the UK but hasn't? I've paid tax for 45 years, and live in Ronda, where the temperature can fall to below freezing for three months of the year.