Older voters have been warned the future of the state pension is “not safe in Tory hands” after they vowed to abolish national insurance.
Labour campaign supremo Jonathan Ashworth said if the Conservatives win the next general election “the state pension system as we know it is under threat”. With millions of voters set to head to the polls on Thursday in local elections across the country, Mr Ashworth toured the Club 3000 Bingo Hall in Doncaster.
One of the Bingo players, 93-year-old Bridgette Derbyshire, said she hopes Labour will win the next election. Asked what she thought of the current government, she raised recent proposals to cut disability payments, adding: “They’re rubbish”. It comes as Labour seeks to woo the over-65s with an advertising blitz highlighting the Tories’ unfunded long-term plan to scrap employee national insurance.
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JOHN MATHER/IMAGE VIEW)
Labour claims it will leave a £46billion blackhole – and to fill it the Government would need to either raise taxes, cut the state pension, or raise the pension age by five years. Mr Ashworth told the Mirror: “If he’s [the PM] is not going to do any of those. Then he needs to explain where else he’s going to get the money from because so far he’s refused when asked”.
The senior Labour figure said: “We’re offering certainty and security to Britain’s retirees who have worked so hard and contributed so much so that Daily Mirror readers know that under a Labour government the triple lock will be secure. They’ve got that peace of mind.”
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“Rishi Sunak has adopted a £46billion plan – a proposal he cannot afford with money he cannot find – the only way in which he can deliver that is by cutting the state pension. Pensioners want to know where the money is coming from. It’s either cutting the state pension by £96-per-week or it is taxing pensioners more.”
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JOHN MATHER/IMAGE VIEW)
Mr Ashworth also carried with him a secret 1980s memo from “Rishi Sunak’s hero” – the ex-Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson. Unearthed from the archives on Tuesday it had warned Margaret Thatcher merging national insurance and income tax would “create many losers” including retirees.
Mr Ashworth said: “Nigel Lawson recognised the threat to pensioner income. So we’re warning Britain’s pensioners that the future of the pension is not safe in Tory hands.” Earlier this week the Tories’ Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott accused Labour of “scaremongering” over the £46billion figure.
But Mr Ashworth stood by his comments, saying: “I do not resile from this complaint one iota because pensioners are worried about how the Tories will make their sums add up. We’ve already seen the Tory party run the economy off a cliff and put pension funds in peril as a consequence.”
He added: “We’re now seeing Rishi Sunak making the same mistakes Liz Truss made – playing fast and loose with the public finances – this time opening up a huge black hole in the national insurance fund which funds people’s pensions. That’s something people have contributed to all their lives. They’ve paid into that system and to play fast and lose with those with those finances is unacceptable, irresponsible, and it’s dangerous.”
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As millions prepare to head to polling stations at the local elections on Thursday – with over 2,600 council seats up for grabs – Mr Ashworth also insisted Labour is “fighting hard for every vote” in a “competitive election”. He warned: “At the end of the day I know people want change and if people want change they’ve got to vote for it on Thursday. If they want to get rid of the Tories they’ve come out and vote to get rid of the Tories.”
With speculation swirling around Westminster the PM could face a leadership challenge after a bruising night at the polls, he added: “I think it just reveals what an absolute shower these Tories have become after 14 years. They haven’t got the answers to the big questions facing the country such as the NHS. I think it is time for change.
“Rather than pandering to Liz Truss, to [Suella] Braverman, to [Jacob] Rees-Mogg, rather than pandering all the time to these hardliners, he should just stop running from the British public and call a general election. He can try and avoid the judgement of the British public for a few more weeks but in the end he can’t avoid their verdict.”