JAMES FRITH: Labour is on the side of pensioners in Bury

Terry, whilst painting his fence at the weekend, stopped me to tell me how he and his wife are paying tax on their small private pension for the first time. And are worse off for it. PM Sunak sneakily put more pensioners into the tax threshold with changes he’s boasting about.

Bury pensioner, Frank, is waiting for his knee operation. He’s in a thick cast, walks with a very painful limp and so took a seat in the passenger side of his car on his own drive when he stopped to tell me how much pain he was in whilst he’s made to wait for at least another 12 more months for knee surgery on the NHS.

Readers, many of you will know the original link between National Insurance and our public services and state pension pot. A link that dates back to 1911 but was expanded for the creation of the NHS under a new Labour government rebuilding the country from 1945.

Sir Keir Starmer highlighted in Parliament in March: "80% of National Insurance is spent on social security and pensions; 20% is spent on the NHS.”

Terry and Frank’s experience sum up the significant problem pensioners are facing under the Tories. In fact, Sunak was asked on daytime TV show Loose Women last week, why he hated pensioners so much!?

Worse still, the Tories are promising to scrap National Insurance. A £46billion abolition that they can’t fund, with money they can’t find – unless they cut the basic state pension or more cuts to public services.

Sunak has again failed to categorically rule out raising the retirement age to 75 to pay for his reckless and unfunded Liz Truss style £46billion blackhole. With Bury pensioners and those approaching retirement age left in the dark, Sunak still hasn’t said how he will pay for this tax pledge and how the state pension will be changed if the Tories are given five more years. .

One principal I live by is that if you play by the rules then you should get what you are owed when the time comes. The country owes pensioners who’ve worked all their lives, a living. You are owed your pension because it is your money! And you deserve to keep as much of it as possible.

Our state pension is based on the contribution you make during your working life via the National Insurance contributions. Under the Tories’ plan, employees will not make contributions, creating uncertainty about a dignified retirement and blowing a £46 billion hole in funding earmarked for the state pension or our public services.

Labour won’t stand by and let Rishi Sunak and the Tories inflict yet more hardship on pensioners because of his weakness and desperation. Labour’s Keir Starmer has given an election guarantee to protect the pensions triple lock should Labour win the election and he becomes Prime Minister.

James Frith is standing to be MP for Bury North at the forthcoming General Election as Change You Can Trust. He tweets @JamesFrith you can contact him on James@JamesFrithForBuryNorth.com