Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed plans set out by Keir Starmer guaranteeing that the pensions triple lock will be in the Labour manifesto and protected for the duration of the next parliament.
While the Conservatives have toyed with breaking the triple lock, Labour has now guaranteed this commitment, ensuring pensioners can enjoy their golden years.
The City MP previously warned that the future of the state pension is on the ballot paper at the next election, as a new Labour dossier exposed the risks to pensioners from the Tories’ £46 billion unfunded tax plan.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the Conservatives’ £46 billion unfunded plan to abolish National Insurance Contributions (NICs). Since then, minister after minister has refused to say how it will be funded or the impact it will have on the state pension.
Labour has also released a new dossier which warns that:
- The Tories’ unfunded promise threatens to increase the state pension age by five years in the next Parliament, delaying retirement for nearly four million over-60s.
- The value of the state pension would be almost half if £46bn was cut from pension funding.
Entitlement to the state pension is based on people’s contributions during their working life, via their NICs. Under the Tories’ plan, employees will not make contributions, creating uncertainty about this entitlement and blowing a £46 billion hole in funding earmarked for the state pension.
Labour will put an end to uncertainty for pensioners through its commitment to the triple lock.
The party is resolute in its belief that if you spend a lifetime working hard and contributing to society, you deserve a comfortable, secure retirement.
This belief meant the last Labour government introduced winter fuel payments, free bus passes and pension credits, lifting more than a million pensioners out of poverty.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“Portsmouth’s pensioners deserve better than a Government that plays fast and loose with their finances that they have worked a lifetime to achieve.
“Conservative recklessness has already cost families too much, with more households every month still paying the price through soaring mortgages.
“It is now time for the Government to put an end to the speculation surrounding the £46 billion hole in their spending plans and commit to protecting the incomes of pensioners in Portsmouth and across the country.”
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General, added:
“The Tories are promising a £46 billion national insurance abolition that they can’t fund, with money they can’t find – unless they cut the basic state pension.
“It has been over 50 days since the Tories first made this pledge but they still haven’t explained where the money is coming from to pay for it.
“Rishi Sunak needs to stop hiding. The Prime Minister must come clean with the public over how he plans to pay for his pledge and categorically rule out cutting or means testing the state pension.”
