Yvonne Fovargue MP: Handout to the rich is wrong priority in cost-of-living crisis

The purpose of this periodic review is to determine whether the existing plans for raising the retirement age remain appropriate, as required by the Pensions Act 2014.

Two reports commissioned by the Government were published alongside the ministerial statement: one from the Government Actuary and an independent report led by Baroness Neville-Rolfe.

The Government accepted Baroness Neville-Rolfe’s recommendations that the planned rise in the state pension age, from 67 to 68, should take place no earlier than 2041. That is four years later than the first independent reviewer, John Cridland, proposed in 2017.

However, the Secretary of State stated that this postponement would itself be subject to a further review early in the next Parliament, no later than the end of 2026, dependent on a final decision by the Government at that time.

The postponement could, therefore, be reversed, confirmed or further extended.

The Government has, therefore, not completely precluded a rise in the state pension age to 68 as early as 2037.

It has, as one MP pointed out, decided not to decide at this stage.

The announcement that the Government are not going ahead with accelerating the state pension age rise is welcome and it is the right decision, but it is the clearest admission yet that a rising tide of poverty is dragging life expectancy down for so many.

There is now clear evidence that life expectancy in the UK is stalling.

In some cases, it is even reducing in some of the poorest communities of our country.

In my view, this is a damning indictment of 13 years of failure, which the Minister should have acknowledged and apologised for in his statement.

The Budget was a chance for the government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential.

But instead, they decided to continue papering over the cracks of 13 years of economic failure.

The only surprise was a handout for the richest 1% and their pension pots.

At the heart of the local elections on Thursday, May 4 is a simple question – are you better off after 13 years of the Tories?

After 13 years of Tory government, seven million people are on NHS waiting lists, access to local GPs is harder and communities feel less safe with fewer neighbourhood police and criminals going unpunished.

But it isn’t just our public services that are struggling. Times are tough. Working people are finding it harder to make ends meet with the biggest hit to living standards on record.

At a time when families across the country face rising bills, higher costs and frozen wages, this gilded giveaway is the wrong priority, at the wrong time.

That’s why a Labour government will reverse this move. We urge the Chancellor and the Tories to think again too.