Sir Keir Starmer’s new pensions minister has said he wants to abolish the “” which protects pensioners from inflation.
The Prime Minister was accused of being “anti-pensioner” after appointing former think tank chief Torsten Bell to oversee pensions in a mini-reshuffle following the resignation of former Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq.
Mr Bell described the as “indefensible” and called for it to be axed in his role as chief executive of the Resolution Foundation in 2020.
Complaining that benefits for pensioners were rising faster than those claimed by working-age people, he urged the Government at the time “to replace the , and pay more attention to the contrast with working-age benefits”.
In an article written jointly with Resolution Foundation researcher Laura Gardiner, Mr Bell said: “Whatever your view on a rising relative to earnings, the contrast with the continued erosion of the value of working-age benefits is indefensible.”
Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Torsten Bell as pensions minister (Image: PA)
Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices organisation, says it is ‘worrying’ Torsten Bell is now pensions minister (Image: Rowan Griffiths/Daily Express)
He also said on Twitter that the “ needs sorting”, but has not repeated the comments since becoming an MP last year.
The protects pensioner incomes by ensuring the rises in line with inflation, earnings or by 2.5%, whichever is higher.
Sir Keir battled Tory claims before the general election that he could axe the , and included a commitment to retain it in his general election manifesto.
But since coming to power the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have made a series of decisions which have hit older voters including ruling out compensation for “WASPI” women hit by age increases and means-testing winter fuel payments.
Dennis Reed, of campaign group Silver Voices, said: “The Resolution Foundation when Torsten Bell was in charge stoked up inter-generational conflict by pushing the idea that older people have never had it so good.
“It’s very worrying that he’s now the pensions minister when he said he wanted to end the .
“This is part of a pattern of anti-pensioner policies from the Government.”
He said the pensioner vote could decide the outcome of the next election.“Plenty of older people voted Labour at the last election and it makes no sense that the Government is turning against them now.”
Torsten Bell was responsible for the disastrous ‘Ed stone’ when Ed Miliband was leader (Image: PA)
Mr Bell was a former adviser to ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband and is credited with coming up with the disastrous “Ed stone” idea in the 2015 general election campaign, when Mr Miliband set out his policies carved into a giant stone monument.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.