A judge has now given permission to proceed to a full hearing, which has been scheduled at Edinburgh Court of Session on January 15.

If they succeeded, how the decision was made to test the payout would be declared illegal. This would force ministers to shelve the cut until they can make the decision again following the correct procedure.

A spokesman for Govan Law Center said: “Our clients are delighted that the court has granted permission for their judicial review challenge to proceed to a full hearing in early January.

“We are expecting a decision on civil legal aid from the Scottish Legal Aid Board early next week in relation to the proceedings.

“If civil legal aid is granted, we will make an urgent application for sanction to employ both junior counsel and senior counsel and announce our final legal team early in the year.”

A clearly broken commitment

Alex Salmond, the late former first minister, helped put the Fannings in touch with the Govan Law Center and claimed before his death earlier this month that all Scots “should be grateful” for taking action legal.

SNP ministers announced in August that almost one million Scottish pensioners they will lose their winter fuel payments this year.

Payment between £100 and £300 will now only go to 130,000 old-age pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit and other means-tested benefits – 900,000 less than last year.

This means the SNP will break the pledge in the 2021 Holyrood election manifesto not to means test the benefit, control of which has recently been transferred to the Scottish Parliament.