Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll & Bute, spoke out in Parliament against the Government’s decision to freeze pension top-up payments for almost 9 million pensioners.

Mr Reid gave the example of a constituent whose pension increase this April will be less than half what it would have been if her pension had gone up in line with inflation.

The Government decided to freeze payments of the State Earnings Related Pension and the Second State Pension. Although the Basic State Pension will still go up in line with inflation, the freezing of pension top-up payments means that nearly 9 million pensioners will suffer on 1 April when their pension goes up by less than the rate of inflation.

When it came to the vote, the Tories and the SNP backed the Government proposal to freeze payments of the State Earnings Related Pension and the Second State Pension. The Liberal Democrats were the only party to vote against the Government’s cut in the value of people’s pensions.

Speaking after the vote, Alan Reid said,
“Labour, Tories and SNP have betrayed pensioners by freezing pension top-up payments. This freeze will leave almost nine million older people worse off at a time when they are already struggling to make ends meet. Older people are already facing high fuel bills following this cold winter and rising inflation eroding their savings.”