Pensioners across the Red Wall who formerly toiled in the nation’s coal mines are in for a major earnings boost.
The success of a long-fought campaign to get the Government to hand back the entirety of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme means 112,000 people will see their incomes go up by an average of £29 a week.
Under a controversial deal dating back to the privatisation of British Coal, the Government was entitled to half the fund’s surplus cash. But now around £1.5billion will be transferred into the pension pots of ex-miners and their families.
Labour MP Nick Smith, who had campaigned for the move, said the decision will make a “big difference” to people who had performed “dangerous and difficult work” for decades.
Thousands of workers in traditional Labour heartland seats will benefit from the uplift. Many of these seats are key electoral battlegrounds, with Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK vying for support.
In the Mansfield constituency – which Labour won back from the Conservatives at the last election – 3,950 people are expected to benefit.
In Bolsover, which also turned back from the Conservatives to Labour, 3,501 people should see a boost.
Stephanie Peacock, whose Barnsley South constituency is home to 3,459 scheme members, had pushed for the pensions boost. She said the Government had “finally delivered justice”.
