The general election on June 8 is your opportunity to choose who you believe will best stand up for Wales’ communities, to defend our jobs, economy, and public services.
The Conservatives’ manifesto for this election sets out plans that will see pensioners lose out. After 2020 the ‘triple lock’ on pensions, which guarantees that the basic state pension will rise by a minimum of either 2.5 per cent, the rate of inflation or average earnings growth, whichever is largest, will be scrapped. It will be replaced by a ‘double lock’ that could see the state pension fail to keep up with growing costs.
Plaid Cymru are committed to fighting to guarantee the triple lock and will continue to call for a fair pension for all.
That includes women born in the 1950s who have lost out as a result of the sharp increases in the state pension age for women. Equalising the pension age, so that it is the same for men and women, is a necessary step but it has been handled poorly by successive Conservative Governments.
Women weren’t informed, sometimes until they were on the verge of retirement, that they would not be receiving their state pension for many more years. This left them without the income they were expecting and struggling to get by.
The Waspi campaign against pension injustice for women has gained broad political support. Plaid Cymru will continue to support their calls for action to be taken to mitigate the impact of the changes.
Plaid Cymru will also continue to fight for a review of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme. Since 1994, both Conservative and Labour governments have siphoned off over £3 billion from the scheme.
This is an ongoing injustice. That money should be used to improve the lives of former miners and their families, not as a cash cow by Westminster.
This is a hugely important issue in Wales, particularly in the South East where we have a proud mining history. A more fair settlement must be found.
It is only right that the pension schemes people have worked hard to pay into for so many years deliver for them. Every Plaid Cymru MP elected will go to Westminster to stand up for Wales.
They will defend Wales from Tory cuts and fight for fair pensions for all.
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