MPs’ attack on our pensions is the last straw

I’m infuriated that MP Frank Field has led calls for the income rises of pensioners to be pegged to release more money for youngsters, as you reported last week. The Work and Pensions Committee, which Mr Field chairs, wants to end the ‘triple lock’ guarantee that increases the state pension by a minimum of 2.5 per cent a year – it could see retired couples lose £1,000 by 2020.

I struggled to bring up my two children and we couldn’t afford a car and luxuries that people take for granted nowadays. And I worked and paid taxes all my life.

I worked at the same company for 28 years and when it went into liquidation, I lost out on a bigger pension, so my husband and I have to manage on our state pension topped up with small private pensions. And what little savings we have earn a paltry level of interest.

Wealthy people like Frank Field need to take a reality check and realise it was working people such as us who put the Great in Britain.

Paulette Pawley, Derby Here we go again. Another attack on pensioners, who are seen as an easy target for saving money. To take away what has been our right for years is outrageous.

The ‘triple lock’ enables us to more or less keep up with the cost of living. Almost every week prices go up, but does the Government care about this? Council tax, energy bills, and insurance premiums are also always increasing.

To save money, MPs should forgo their expenses claims and stop spending taxpayers’ money so freely, as Baroness Scotland has done. They should also reduce the number of Lords, many of whom are useless. Robert Barker, Bolton I am a 74-year-old pensioner and I qualify for the Government’s savings credit, but every year that there is a rise in the state pension, there is a reduction in the savings credit to balance it out. In fact, any rise actually becomes a loss for pensioners because savings credits are not taxable but state pensions are. A lot of people will not realise what is happening. Our Government is ripping off retired people, and I see this as a phasingout of our benefits by stealth. When the savings credit has reduced to zero in three or so years, you will find there is no yearly increase for the state pension.

A. Glen, Airdrie Don’t these MPs make you sick? They want to cut the ‘triple lock’ for pensioners yet they give away £13billion a year in overseas aid. What about looking after those who have worked all their lives and paid their taxes?

J. Moffatt, Stockport