Jeremy Corbyn slammed for plan to protect pension Triple Lock until 2025 in move which will cost nearly £4bn
It comes despite a host of critics insisting it is unaffordable and calling for it to be scrapped
BRITAIN’S bloated state pension bill will rocket by almost £4billion under Jeremy Corbyn’s new plan to guarantee the retirement Triple Lock until 2025.
In a fresh move to be unveiled tomorrow, Labour pledges to keep the heavily criticised policy in place for another eight years.
The move comes despite a host of critics insisting it is unaffordable and calling for it to be scrapped.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell laid down the commitment on a pensioners’ pledge card, along with other promises aimed at wooing older voters.
Labour will also promise compensation for women hardest-hit by increases in the state pension age.
Protection for elderly Britons living overseas and a commitment to keep winter fuel payments and free bus passes are also included.
Imitating a Tony Blair pledge card pre-1997, Mr McDonnell said the vow to keep the triple lock would hike pensioner income by at least £650 in the coming years.
But Tory peer Baroness Ros Altmann has called for Theresa May to ditch it, branding it a “political tool”.
She said it makes “no economic or social sense” and disadvantages the “oldest and poorest pensioners”.
The triple lock mechanism guarantees the state pension increases annually by the highest measure out of average wages, inflation, or 2.5 per cent.
But Chancellor Philip Hammond has signalled it may not be immune from cuts in the longer term.
Tory MP Kelly Tolhurst blasted the Labour pledge saying the party would “crash” the economy.
She said: “Labour’s economic mismanagement hit older people hard when they were in government, and Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s reckless plans would do the same all over again.
“Our careful management of the economy, changes to help people save more for their retirement, and protections for pensioner benefits and the state pension are all helping people have dignity and security in retirement.”
But Mr McDonnell said: “It’s a national scandal that pensioner poverty is rising and the Tories are refusing to commit to keeping the triple-lock or compensate women worst affected by the speeding up in the state pension age.”
The pledge card will be launched by the shadow chancellor during a visit to Coventry.