Corbyn: Prime minister is attacking pensioners while protecting billionaires

Jeremy Corbyn has continued his pitch for the pensioner vote by accusing Theresa May of promising an “attack on older people” after the Tories pledged a series of cuts to retirement benefits.

Labour said May’s decision to dump the “triple lock” guarantee left pensioners £330 a year worse off and said up 10 million people would lose the winter fuel allowance – worth up to £300 a year – under the Tories.

Corbyn tonight issued a series of pledges to ensure a Labour government would give older people the “security and dignity they deserve”:

• To secure the incomes of people in retirement by retaining the triple lock, which guarantees the state pension will rise by the average increase in prices, earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher.
• Protect the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes for pensioners.
• Provide an extra £45bn for the NHS and social care.
• Reject any rise in the state pension age beyond 66.
• Justice for “Waspi women” – those born in the 1950s hit by a five year rise in pension age.

“Not satisfied with plunging our social care system into crisis, Theresa May’s nasty party has promised more attacks on older people:  scrapping the triple-lock on state pensions, removing the winter fuel allowance and asset stripping the ill by forcing those who need social care to pay for it with their homes,” Corbyn said.

“Labour will protect the winter fuel allowance and triple-lock on state pensions to deliver a secure and dignified retirement for all, and spend an extra £45bn on the NHS and social care over five years, so that older people can get the care they deserve.

“Theresa May and the Conservatives won’t stand up for pensioners, their only concern is their billionaire friends. Labour is proud to stand up for the many, not the few.”

Labour published research saying pensioners would have been at least £330 worse off under the Tories’ “double lock” had it been in place between 2013/14 and 2017/18.