The savers who spent all their working lives building portfolios to fund their retirement

The shareholders

“I am so angry,” said Sharon Hearne. “My husband worked for BT for 29 years and paid into the BT share scheme. We started with a small contribution and built that up over many years.

“We have worked all our lives and saved. This was money for us to fall back on.”

The 63-year-old retiree from Basingstoke, Hants, said that her family had around 33,000 shares in the firm. Their holding is currently worth around £70,000 and generates about £3,500 per year for Mrs Hearne and her husband. Others were equally concerned. Steve Gascoigne, of Worcestershire, said Labour’s proposal would affect his retirement plans. The 57-year-old said the cash was vital to help him care for his elderly father.

‘This would adversely affect self-funded retirees like myself as well as people that use fund managers’

“I’ve retired early as I’m looking after my father, who has been seriously ill,” he said. “I have, over a lifetime, built up a small collection of shares which pays me about £1,000 a year in dividends.”

Keith Clubley, 65, from East

Yorkshire, said: “This would adversely affect self-funded retirees such as myself who have set up a portfolio of shares for income, as well as those people that use fund managers to pay for their retirement.

“No doubt this would only be the start of a wider programme of nationalisation.”

Labour said investors would be compensated by way of government bonds, although analysts said these typically offered much lower income than BT dividends.

Mrs Hearne said: “They have offered government bonds, but I don’t want government bonds. They might as well reach into our bank account and snatch the £70,000, as far as I’m concerned.”