Chancellor faces fresh calls to release billions from mineworkers’ pension pot

Will Meakin-Durrant and Rhiannon James, Press Association Political Staff

Chancellor John Healey has faced fresh calls to release £1.2 billion from a mineworkers’ pension pot, which is currently locked up in the scheme.

Labour MP Linsey Farnsworth said on Monday she feared her father, a former miner who now has dementia, would die before he achieved the “justice that he deserves”.

Samantha Niblett, who also sits on the Labour benches, has vowed to forego her next salary increase, giving the uplift to charity “until miners and their families receive what they are owed”.

The £1.2 billion is locked up in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS), which was closed to new members when the British Coal Board was privatised in 1994.

The Government at the time promised that the value of the fund would not decrease, but only half of any surplus from the investments would go towards pension bonuses.

The remaining half would be taken by the Government.

At last week’s Budget, Mr Healey announced that MPS members, and members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme, would receive 100% of the surpluses generated from their schemes’ performance, ending the 50-50 split.

“I’m guaranteeing that every penny of the pension fund surplus now goes to miners,” the Chancellor said.

But while he promised to “ensure the full transfer of the Guarantor’s Fund” in the future, MPS trustees wrote in a statement: “The Trustees are cautious that this is not a guarantee to either do this or a commitment to a specific timescale.

“The Trustees’ position is that the work has been done and that the undistributed surplus funds should be transferred to members now without further delay.”

Debating the Budget, Ms Farnsworth told the Commons that “real progress” had been made in addressing mineworkers’ concerns.

But the MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire added: “The job is not done.

“My dad suffers from emphysema, white fingers and damaged knee from years of working on the coal face and now also late stage dementia.

“When I learned that a final settlement for MPS members would not be reached in this Budget, I made it clear to ministers what this means.

“It means that there is a very real possibility that my dad will not live to see the justice that he deserves, and this is not unique to our family – around 19 former miners die every single day.

“That means that since the Budget, 85 miners will already have passed away without seeing this issue resolved.”

Ms Niblett, the South Derbyshire MP, also called for the release of the Guarantor’s Fund.

“These men spent their working lives doing some of the hardest and most dangerous jobs in our country,” she said.

“They kept our lights on, our homes warmed and our industries running.

“Their pensions are deferred wages earned through years of dangerous work, not a taxpayer handout.”

Ms Niblett also said: “Around 100 former miners die every week. Some will never live to see the justice they have spent years campaigning for.

“This is also about our former coalfield communities.

“That money will be spent in our towns and villages, supporting local shops, businesses and families.”

She told MPs: “I’ve also pledged to donate my next annual parliamentary salary increase to charity until miners and their families receive what they are owed.”

Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said former miners’ concerns had been “heard loud and clear on the Treasury bench”.

He added: “As the Chancellor said last week, he knows that the job is not done and that he will go on to ensure the full transfer of the Guarantor’s Fund.

“I know he is working at pace to agree a way forward.”

Last week, several Labour MPs signed a letter to Mr Healey, warning him that they “cannot see a justification for withholding the money that belongs to scheme members alone”.

They urged the Chancellor to “approve the release of the remaining £1.2 billion in the Guarantor’s Fund immediately and therefore prove to miners and their families that the Labour Government is on their side”.

MPs are due to hold their fourth and final day of the Budget debate on Tuesday.

The Conservatives have vowed to vote against several proposed tax rises, including a rise in alcohol duty rates by inflation and a decision to temporarily make banks pay an extra 3% on the bank surcharge, which is currently levied at 3% on top of the 25% corporation tax rate.

“Healey’s Budget will take the tax burden to a historic high,” shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said.

“Instead of easing the pressure on hardworking families and businesses hammered by Labour, he has chosen to raise taxes again.

“You cannot tax, spend or regulate your way to growth.

“The only way we will make Britain prosperous again is to back our country’s risk-takers and job-creators.

“The Conservatives will vote against Labour’s tax raid on savers, family homes and hospitality.

“Instead, we will make £70 billion in savings, with more than half coming from cutting welfare, so we can cut taxes, cut the deficit and give our armed forces the resources they need.”