Sir Keir Starmer has been condemned for snubbing Britain’s aged after he arrogantly refused to reply to a petition pleading for pensioners to not be dragged into paying tax. Four weeks in the past, the marketing campaign group Silver Voices delivered a serious petition to No 10 warning the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves that taxing the state pension can be a “fundamental mistake”.
Backed by the Daily Express, the petition acquired a whopping 115,000 signatures earlier than being delivered to Sir Keir’s entrance door in Downing Street. Support has since grown to 125,000. However, an entire month later, neither the Prime Minister nor the Chancellor have responded. Dennis Reed, director of the over-60s marketing campaign group, stated a petition final autumn on the scrapping of Winter Fuel Payments additionally went unanswered, though the Government blamed this on an “administrative oversight”.
This time, nevertheless, he warned there was “no excuse” for snubbing Britain’s most weak.
Mr Reed advised the Express that the snub confirmed the Government merely will not be bothered about Britain’s pensioners.
He blasted: “When you hand in a detailed petition on behalf of over 100,000 people, the least you should expect is a courteous reply from the Prime Minister and Chancellor answering the points that are made in it.
“This anti-pensioner Government sends the Deputy Prime Minister to try to sort out a local Unite dispute and recalls Parliament to save jobs in the steel industry, but can’t be bothered to consider the implications of the basic state pension being taxed, even though it impacts a fifth of the UK population.”
A latest Freedom of Information request revealed that Ms Reeves’s resolution to freeze the tax thresholds will drag almost 12million extra folks into paying earnings tax for the primary time over the following three years.
In whole, 5.4million of them will likely be over 60, and three.4million will likely be of their 70s.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak highlighted the issue throughout final 12 months’s General Election, when he identified that the pension triple lock, when paired with frozen earnings tax thresholds, would finally result in these on the fundamental state pension paying tax for the primary time.
Mr Sunak proposed the so-called “triple lock plus” as a policy solution, which would mean the personal allowance for pensioners increasing at the same rate to prevent elderly people falling into the tax trap.
During the campaign, Labour described the Tories’ policy as “desperate” and not “credible”.
Silver Voices’ letter to the Chancellor and PM, delivered in March, called on the lower tax threshold to be immediately increased by at least £1,000 for state pensioners, “and thereafter uprated on the basis of the triple lock increases each year”.
It also set out why taxing the basic state pension would be both unfair and impractical, as it would reduce the basic premise of the pension as a safeguard for dignity in retirement.
It warned: “For the basic state pension to be taxed will force more older people into poverty.”
Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson Steve Darling stated: “Pensioners have seen their already stretched budgets hammered by rising bills, their winter fuel payments stripped and this next hit will come as another bitter blow.”
“This Labour Government has treated pensioners appallingly. It left many choosing between heating and eating with no end in sight for the difficulties millions are suffering through.
“We Liberal Democrats were proud to have brought in the triple lock and will stand shoulder to shoulder with pensioners as the Conservatives take aim at it and the Labour government slashes support.”
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson stated: “It turns out the Government’s indifference, if not outright hostility, to pensioners knows no bounds.
“Despite writing to the Government and collecting over 115,000 signatures on their petition, Silver Voices have not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement or a single reply to any of their correspondence.
“This is an example of the hostile environment that the Labour Government is creating for pensioners, making it as difficult as possible for them to enjoy a good quality of life towards the end of their days.
A Treasury spokesman failed to explain why Silver Voices’ petition had gone unanswered.
The spokesman said: “We are committed to helping our pensioners live their lives with dignity and respect, which is why we have frozen fuel duty and increased the state pension to leave pensioner couples up to £88 better off a month.
“Our commitment to the triple lock means millions will see their pension rise by up to £1,900 this parliament.”
A authorities supply argued: “The state pension is a form of income and is therefore taxable. Social security benefits are treated differently depending on why they are paid. Generally, benefits that are designed to replace income are taxable, including the state pension.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2044562/keir-starmer-snub-pensioners-petition