𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Champions of the pensions triple lock have condemned a call by one of the most powerful pro-Labour think tanks to introduce compulsory voting so politics is not dominated by the demands of older voters.

Young voters are radically less likely to vote than older citizens and a new report says the “skewed composition of the electorate” explains why politicians are scared to scrap the triple lock which protects from pensioners from poverty. The power of pensioners at the ballot box is also blamed for the fury which engulfed the Labour Government when Rachel Reeves announced the rollback of entitlement to winter fuel support.

The report comes from Labour Together, the think tank formerly led by Morgan McSweeney, a mastermind of the 2024 landslide, who went on to serve as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff until toppled in the fall-out from the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States.

The report claims “politicians prioritise the interests of richer, older, and more secure voters” and that is “why spending on the state pension has doubled since 2010”. It states that turnout in the last general election was “34 points higher amongst those aged 65-plus than amongst those aged 18-24”.

Warning of the impact, it states: “Today, these generational turnout gaps continue to distort the political terrain: we cannot separate the skewed composition of the electorate from the seeming inviolability of expensive policies such as the state pension triple lock, and the political difficulties faced by the current Labour Government in the course of its efforts to rebalance Britain’s tax and welfare systems – difficulties exemplified by early controversy over the means-testing of winter fuel payments. Nor can we separate it from the cynical promises recently made by Nigel Farage and Reform UK to pay for the maintenance of the triple lock with cuts to welfare for working-age families (including reinstating of the two-child cap).”

The triple lock ensures the state pension rises by at least 2.5% and keeps pace with average earnings and inflation.

The report drew an angry reaction from Dennis Reed of the Silver Voices campaign group.

He said: “Labour Together is trying to blame older people for the Government’s monumental political blunder in scrapping the winter fuel payment as soon as it took office. This direct attack on pensioners will haunt Labour for generations, just as the poll tax did for Margaret Thatcher, but instead of learning the lessons, Labour Together is trying to take on the triple lock as well. Talking about a ‘skewed’ electorate is slanderous; it appears to indicate that older generations have less right to exist than other ages, and less right to argue for policies which protect us. Such an approach reveals the loathing for older people which exists in some parts of the political establishment. Labour is heading for the dustbin of history if it persists with these attacks on senior citizens, because the public supports us to the hilt.”

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “‘Compulsory voting sounds suspiciously like a desperate fix for parties that have lost touch with the electorate and can’t win consent. Reform UK have been clear we feel pensioners who have paid into system all their lives deserve dignity in retirement. Frankly we won’t take lectures on fairness from Left-wing think tanks that want to rig the system to get the result they prefer.”

The Labour Together Report argues the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Conservative election successes were “made possible by the Conservative Party’s strong support from high-turnout older voters”.

It states: “Appealing to the preferences of older voters, Conservative governments repeatedly prioritised austerity over growth, while cutting long-term social investment programmes like Sure Start to instead prioritise policies like the state pension triple lock.”

The report also argues that “older voters electorally reward and punish,” stating: “Compared with working-age voters, older voters are far less likely to reward governments for delivering economic growth or high employment, or to punish them for failing to do so.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “The Conservatives introduced the triple lock to reduce pensioner poverty and retirement should mean dignity. Labour’s decision to strip the winter fuel payment from 10 million pensioners showed they do not understand how difficult life gets for older people on fixed incomes. As a country we need to live within our means. That means a stronger economy and a government with the backbone to grip the welfare bill, because then can we afford to protect the things that matter most, including the right of people who have worked all their lives to retire in dignity.”

Sir Keir Starmer announced in the Sunday Express in April 2024, ahead of that July’s election, that Labour would preserve the triple lock, saying pensioners “deserve certainty – and for politicians to be straight with them so they can plan their lives”.