Pensioners in Labour’s sights as last group who still back the Tories
Labour has launched a new campaign to woo pensioners by underscoring the threat to the state pension under current Government plans, in a bid to extinguish one of the Tories’ only remaining electoral assets.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party unveiled a targeted advertising blitz on Monday designed to curry favour with the over-65s, as recent polling suggests it is now the only age group that prefers the Conservatives.
Labour has called for Rishi Sunak to “finally come clean” about the consequences of his party’s long-term ambition to scrap National Insurance contributions, warning that it means “people’s pensions are on the line”.
The party claims the move will cost about £46bn a year. With the Government still yet to announce how it would be funded, the axe would appear most likely to fall on the national pension pot to shore up cash.
New Labour analysis, shared with i, suggests that women, over-75s and single pensioners are most at risk if the Government looks to pensions to fund its National Insurance plans.
Research by the party found that the state pension is the main source of household income for 3.4m women and 2.7m men.
It is also the main funding pot for 53 per cent of pensioners over-75 and 43 per cent of pensioners under-75, the analysis found.
Meanwhile benefit income, mainly the state pension, accounts for 56 per cent of income in single pensioner households, compared to 37 per cent among pensioner couples, according to the party’s analysis.
The figures offer a crucial insight into the key demographic that Labour’s new attack campaign aims to target.
It comes after polling carried out by BMG Research on behalf of i last week showed that pensioners back the Tories over Labour by 38 per cent to 28 per cent, making them a crucial age bracket for Labour to win over.
The survey of 1,500 adults across the UK between 22 and 23 April found that over-65s were the only demographic that would vote for the Tories over Labour if a general election were held today.
By contrast, 41 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds said they would vote Labour, compared to 23 per cent for the Tories, with the gap widening down the age range.
It makes pensioners a crucial target for Labour as the party ramps up campaigning ahead of the general election, and with days to go before the local elections on 2 May.
In a new national poster campaign launched on Monday night, Labour warned that “your pension is not safe with the Tories”, as the party set out a series of questions for the Government to “come clean” over.
It called on the Prime Minister to clarify whether the Government will rule out any cut to the basic state pension to fund its long-term plan to abolish National Insurance contributions.
It has also demanded answers over whether the state pension age will be hiked to fund the £46bn “black hole”, and whether the state pension will be means-tested going forwards.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General, told i: “Older people have paid a heavy price for the economic chaos inflicted by the Tories and another five years of the Conservatives will only risk more of the same.
“The Government need to come clean about who will be paying for their unfunded proposal to cut National Insurance and rule out cutting the State Pension to fill this £46bn unfunded black hole.”
But Laura Trott, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, accused Labour of “scaremongering”.
“Of course we rule this out,” she said.
“The last Labour government put up the weekly State Pension by a measly 75 pence in one year and raided pensions to the tune of £118bn.
“Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives will stick to the plan with the economy, which has allowed us to increase the State Pension this year by an extra £900 a year, cut National Insurance by £900 and make progress towards ending the unfair double tax on work in an economically responsible way. Labour would take us back to square one with higher taxes.”
It comes as pensions are expected to prove a major battleground in the run-up to the general election, expected later this year.
Mr Starmer committed for the first time last week to keeping the triple lock, announcing that the party would protect the measure for at least the first five years of any Labour government.
The Labour leader told the Daily Express that pensioners needed certainty, and he would commit to retaining the policy of increasing publicly funded pensions by the level of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest.
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, has said the Conservatives will keep the triple lock system to decide rises in the State Pension if the party wins the general election.
He also insisted that slashing National Insurance contributions would benefit 29m working people and end the “unfairness of double taxation”.
The Conservative Party was approached for comment.
