Pensioners beware!

Over recent years and in particular, recent months, there has been much talk of the political establishment abandoning certain elements of society, with alarming results. A prime example is that of having ignored the plight of those who are known as 'blue collar' workers.

Having felt ignored for so long, many such people who had not voted for years decided to register a 'protest' vote during the Brexit referendum, with devastating consequences, the severity of which are yet to be fully appreciated.

Similarly, the USA Presidential election, for much the same reasons, has resulted in the election of an unpredictable 'loose cannon' who appears to be racist, divisive and popularly anti-establishment. The world now looks on in trepidation.

But another group in UK society that has been largely overlooked in recent years are our pensioners.

In 1982, the Thatcher Conservative government broke the link between the State pension and National Average Earnings (NAE) which historically had grown at around 2% per annum more than the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to which it then became linked. This meant that year on year throughout the Thatcher and subsequently Major years of Tory government, the purchasing power of the State pension was being steadily eroded. During this time, Labour as the main opposition party complained bitterly about it, yet when they entered office as the government for thirteen years, they did absolutely nothing about it, thereby continuing the yearly erosion of the State pension.

In 2010, the Conservatives, in response to the LibDems election manifesto, said that the country could not afford to do anything about it, yet during the first 6 months of the coalition government, not only did the LibDems restore the link with NAE, they went further and secured the 'Triple-Lock', thereby ensuring that the State pension would rise annually by the greater of National Average Earnings, the Consumer Prices Index or 2.5%, which was then written into law.

Now however, we hear right-wing elements of the current Conservative government talking in terms of abandoning the Triple-lock and in so doing, abandoning our pensioners yet again. Despite the Chancellor having confirmed in his Autumn Statement that the Triple Lock will remain (this coming year), the loud rumblings continue in the background.

With Labour in total disarray and an increasingly right-wing Conservative government and a spent one-policy UKIP, the only major UK party seeking to represent and protect an ever increasing number of pensioners are the Liberal Democrats.

I urge you to make your voices heard and fight tooth and nail to preserve the Triple-Lock. Without it, many will return to having to decide whether in winter months to heat or to eat.