The Tories have made a major general election pledge on pensions dubbed the “triple lock plus”, leading to greater scrutiny of Labour’s policy offer for pensioners.
Labour has repeatedly attacked the Tories over the potential impact on pensioners of the government’s ambition to scrap National Insurance, claiming in an attack ad over the weekend that such a move would put people’s pensions “in real jeopardy”.
The Conservatives have now unveiled the so-called “triple lock plus”, which would see the personal allowance for pensioners increase at least 2.5% or in line with the highest of earnings or inflation.
Labour this morning said it would not match the pledge, with Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds telling BBC Breakfast: “I don’t think it’s credible, I don’t think it’s real, and I think pensioners will completely see through this.”
Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth also attacked the policy in a statement overnight, denouncing it as “just another desperate move from a chaotic Tory party torching any remaining facade of its claims to economic credibility”.
But Ashworth reiterated Labour’s pledge to “protect” the triple lock itself. The party made a number of other pledges on pensions in the final document produced during its National Policy Forum (NPF) process last year – though it is yet to be confirmed which parts of the document will make the final manifesto.
READ MORE: Labour warns pensioners of £46bn Tory ‘fiscal black hole’ in new election ad
The party pledged in the NPF document to reverse the changes made by the government to pension allowances at the March Budget in 2023, but also introduce a targeted scheme across the UK to address retention issues among doctors.
It said it would protect pensioners from the cost-of-living crisis and ensure that older people have security in retirement, pledging to stand by increases to the state pension to protect pensioners from the cost-of-living crisis.
The party said it would implement a strategy for ageing well, including covering those approaching pension age, that values older people’s voices, in close consultation with the groups affected.
It committed to work with industry to ensure that workplace pensions provide a secure income through retirement and said it wants further partnership between employers and workers, based on shared responsibilities to make pensions contributions and plan for retirement.
Labour said it would encourage the creation of Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pensions and explore other policies that could encourage saving for retirement and a better standard of living in old age, such as building on the success of the auto-enrolment scheme of the last Labour government
The party also said in the document that it endorses and supports calls for the reform of the Mineworkers’ Pensions and that it would continue to engage respectfully with women born in the 1950s, recognising the hardship faced by those who were impacted by changes to their state pension age with insufficient notice.
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