Liberal Democrats commit to ‘triple-lock’ to protect pensioners in Oldham

Following their national party conference, The Liberal Democrats have announced plans to protect pensioners against the cost-of-living crisis.  The party has committed to the ‘triple-lock’, which ensures that pensions increase in line with inflation, wages or 2.5% – whichever is highest.   

Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE, who attended the conference, said, “Our triple-lock pension plan is needed now more than ever.  Pensioners are particularly vulnerable to the cost-of-living crisis because their fixed incomes can be eaten away by inflation.  We can’t let runaway inflation caused by the carelessness of this government destroy people’s livelihoods in old age.”

Figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that almost 55,000 pensioners could benefit across Oldham Borough. 

Councillor Sykes said, “The Liberal Democrats are the only party standing up for the triple-lock on state pensions.  Many pensioners across our communities are already worried sick about the cost of heating and eating.  The Conservatives and Labour are now eyeing up their pension pots too.  Why should pensioners pay the price for the damage the government has done to the nation’s finances?”     

NOTES

Data on the number of pensioners in each constituency can be found here.  Oldham Borough is comprised of two whole parliamentary constituencies – ‘Oldham East and Saddleworth’ and ‘Oldham West and Royton’ – as well roughly one third of the Ashton Under-Lyne constituency.

For the purpose of translating House of Commons Library data into figures for the metropolitan borough of Oldham as a whole, the Liberal Democrats take the combined figures for ‘Oldham East and Saddleworth’ and ‘Oldham West and Royton’ combine them with one third of Ashton-Under-Lyne’s total.  This gives an approximate figure for the borough – where only Parliamentary data is available.