Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Miliband and Josh Simons

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Josh Simons (Makerfield) (Lab)]

16. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the mineworkers’ pension scheme on the living standards of recipients.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

In the Budget, the Government decided to transfer the mineworkers’ pension scheme investment reserve to members of the scheme. At the end of last month, the first increase in payments was made to over 100,000 ex-miners and their families. That has meant an extra 32% rise in people’s pensions each month—an average of £29 per week. The overturning of that historic injustice demonstrates the difference made by a Labour Government.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is right about the read-across and the sense that the injustice that has been remedied in the MPS needs to be remedied in the BCSSS. There is also a real need for speed. That is why my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry is on the case, as she was so brilliantly on the MPS, delivering in less than five months the justice that the Conservative Government never delivered in 14 years.

[Josh Simons]

In my constituency of Makerfield, more than 500 people stand to benefit from changes introduced by this Government to the mineworkers’ pension scheme. For years, those people and their families stood by and watched as the Conservative Government stole their pensions and disrespected their work. I want us to celebrate our industrial past and those who made this nation wealthy and powered our industrial revolution. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to do more to remember the legacy of mining as well as to drive up the living standards of those on the mineworkers’ pension scheme?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is right. I think I am right in saying—my hon Friend the Minister for Industry and I have had a discussion about this—that almost every constituency—