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From The Socialist newspaper, 10 November 2021
Tories under pressure in bid to remove pension triple lock
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Kevin Pattison, chair, Leeds and Wakefield Unite Community, retired
In the recent budget the Tory government chose to cut taxes on champagne and on banks rather than keeping the triple lock on state pensions. Millions of pensioners have only the state pension to live on, but it is one of the lowest in Europe.
The triple lock meant that state pensions increased by whichever is the highest - wages, inflation, or 2.5%. After promising in their manifesto to keep the triple lock, the government has decided to do away with it this year because, it claims, average wages have gone up so much this year.
This will come as a surprise to NHS workers who have been offered only 3%, ie less than inflation, and other public sector workers who have been told that their pay freeze imposed last November will end next April, but have been offered nothing yet.
There has been a 'revolt' in the House of Lords about the ending of the triple lock, and there will be a further vote in parliament on 15 November. The National Pensioners Convention is encouraging people to write to their MPs about this, hoping for yet another government U-turn.
There are around 20,000 hypothermia-related deaths of pensioners each year. To take away the triple lock just as gas and electricity prices are going through the roof will cause more pensioners to have to choose between heating and eating. The Department for Work and Pension's £200 per household seasonal fuel payment will make only a small dent in this winter's bills.
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In The Socialist 10 November 2021:
COP26
Capitalism's COP26 failure: socialist planning vital
Thousands march in Glasgow and elsewhere to save the planet
Housing
Socialist planning to meet housing need
75 years after the first new town
News
Council workers ballot on pay offer that's really a cut
Harsh Tory regime for benefit claimants and workers
Tories under pressure in bid to remove pension triple lock
What we think
Sleaze and pay a toxic mix for Tories
Socialism 2021
Why I'm coming to Socialism 2021
Workplace news
CWU conference debates political strategy
RMT AGM: Delegates focus on the looming battles
University workers vote for action in two disputes
Sheffield bin workers strike: "End rubbish pay!"
Support for all-out scaffs strike spreads
Weetabix workers escalate action in crunch dispute
International news
Portugal's government falls: Left must adopt a new course
Review
John Barnes on class and capitalism. What's missing?
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2021