Clare Wilkins, secretary East Midlands National Pensioners’ Convention (personal capacity) and Socialist Party member
Despite having no expectations for Starmer’s Labour government to do anything to improve the lives of working-class people, the speed of their attack on pensioners was a shock.
Axing the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners who do not get Pension Credit and reneging on a pre-election promise to cap care costs are a huge blow.
Britain has the lowest state pension in Europe. Over 2 million live in poverty. The Tory government froze the tax threshold till 2028 and Labour has said it will keep it frozen. 9 million of 12 million pensioners already pay tax. In 2028, those who only receive the state pension will be paying tax too. The frozen tax threshold hits pensioners and low-paid workers hardest.
The Tories and the media have attacked Labour for prioritising public sector workers’ pay over pensioners. But the Tories consistently threatened not to honour the Pension Triple Lock, removed free TV licences from the over-75s and threatened free prescriptions.
Rachel Reeves has said that she has discovered an unexpected £20 billion ‘black hole’ in government finances and used this as an excuse to further attack pensioners. Even just collecting unpaid tax from the super-rich would fill this ‘hole’ many times over!
In October, the energy price cap will rise by 10% and fuel prices will remain high. Even more pensioners will have to choose between heating and eating. There will be even more pressure on the NHS and care, and tragically there will be even more excess deaths (last year there were 5,000, despite the existence of the Winter Fuel Payment and other government help).
The money is there to keep the Winter Fuel Payment, cap energy prices and raise the tax threshold in line with inflation! It is not a choice between workers’ wages or pensioners’ payments. Workers should have decent pay and conditions and pensioners decent pensions. We have to safeguard and improve pensions for now and the future,
Workers and pensioners need to campaign together to get the Labour government to reverse the decision in the 30 October budget.
- An Age UK petition already has over 440,000 signatures
- The National Pensioners Convention is calling on the trade unions and TUC to join in the campaign to reverse the decision, and to join a lobby of Parliament on Tuesday 29 October
