Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, has today (8 November 2022) voted for an Opposition Day debate motion to protect the Pension Triple Lock and see it raise by inflation.
Abandoning the 2019 Conservative Manifesto commitment to the triple lock on state pensions for the second year in a row could leave 14,119 pensioners in Ogmore constituency £920.56 worse off on average, according to new analysis published today.
New analysis from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by Labour, shows that pensioners in Ogmore face an average cut of £417.08 in 2023/24 if the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment to the triple lock is broken again when pensions are uprated in April 2023.
The loss is even larger when considering what the state pension would have been had the triple lock not already been broken in 2022. Taking this into account, pensioners in Ogmore could be £920.56 worse off overall, compared to what the state pension would have been if the triple lock were applied in 2022 and 2023.
This proposed cut to pensioners income comes following the disastrous and damaging Mini Budget which saw the value of the pound plummet and the cost of borrowing skyrocket.
The cumulative impact of this cut would see £12.9 million taken out of the local economy.
Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, said:
“The UK Tory Government wrecked our economy with their bankrupt Mini Budget and now they are trying to balance the books on the backs of pensioners. This is morally wrong and economically illiterate. That’s why I have voted to protect the Pension Triple Lock.
We are living through one of the worst cost of living crisis in living memory. If the Tories break the promise, they made to the country in 2019 it will plunge pensioners across our community into poverty. Removing £920.56 from their budgets is unacceptable and unmanageable when energy prices and the weekly shop continues to skyrocket.
The UK Tory Government has run out of ideas and is too divided to run the country. Today’s vote shows that only a UK Labour Government, working hand-in-hand with the Welsh Labour Government can secure prosperity for all. Only a UK Labour Government will defend the Pension Triple Lock and tackle pensioner poverty head on.”