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Heartbreaking chart showing how Labour has wrecked retirement for millions of pensioners _ Hieuuk

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Heartbreaking chart showing how Labour has wrecked retirement for millions of pensioners

A shocking new graph shows a stark increase in pensioners desperately trying to seek help.

Chart shows calls to helpline since election

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Sky News have shared a chart from a charity showing calls about pensions since the election (Image: Independent Age)

A worrying new graph shows how calls to a charity for the elderly helpline have rocketed since Labour came to power on July 4.

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Heartbreakingly pensioners are seeking more and more advice as Chancellor Rachel Reeves axed winter fuel payments for millions and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned of a painful Autumn Budget on October 30.

In the chart above a huge spike in calls can clearly be seen for the months of July and August with the numbers phoning for advice far higher than the same time last year.

In data shared with Sky News, charity Independent Age revealed they are seeing more and more pensioners coming to them worried about “drastic” government cutbacks.

Independent Age chief executive Joanna Elson CBE told the news channel: “This data from our helpline clearly shows that many people in later life are worried about the UK government’s decision to limit the winter fuel payment to those that receive pension credit.

 

READ MORE… MP calls for ‘Pensioner Task Force’ over Winter Fuel Payment row

Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves

New figures show pensioners are potentially worse off under Labour (Image: Getty )

“The people we speak to are frightened about losing a vital lifeline this winter, many are struggling on a low income and will be forced to make drastic cutbacks.

“Others tell us it is the first time they have reached out for support, as the winter ahead feels very bleak.”

From this winter, only people on pension credit or certain other benefits will receive winter fuel payments, worth up to £300, while about 10 million others are set to be stripped of the allowance.

Labour has claimed the move is necessary to help fill a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances inherited from the Conservative government.

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A couple of pensioners check their finances

Pensioners have been hit with winter fuel cuts thanks to Labour (Image: Getty )

Kevin McGrath, 81, a former social worker and Catholic monk, from Corby, Northants, told Sky News he was “deeply concerned about the winter” and that taking the winter fuel payments from pensioners was “evil”.

He added: “Of all the wealth in Britain, they target the ones who have very little in life.”

“I fully understand that the government has difficult decisions to make, but why are they starting at the bottom, why don’t they start at the top. It’s evil. It’s a crime.”

A government spokesperson told Sky News it is “committed to supporting pensioners”, adding over 12 million people will see their state pension rise by £1,700 this parliament because of the triple lock.

They said: “Given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right we target support to those who need it most.

“We urge anyone who thinks they may be entitled to pension credit to check their eligibility and have already seen a 115 percent increase in claims following the launch of our awareness campaign.”

 

Self-deprecating Starmer reveals how one voter joked she should ‘push you down the stairs’

Sir Keir Starmer peppered his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister with a number of self-deprecating jokes.

After what he claimed was a ‘record-breaking conference’ for the party in Liverpool this week, Sir Keir recalled his first Covid-restricted address as Labour leader.

‘Such a far cry from my first conference speech to a live audience of one – the cameraman,’ the PM said.

‘Socially distanced in an arts centre in Doncaster. Remember that? Don’t worry, most people don’t. Not even the cameraman!’

Sir Keir later recalled how he last year took his family to the cottage in the Lake District where he used to go on holiday as a child.

‘We walked up to the cottage and stood outside,’ he said.

‘We must have looked quite odd. And so the couple who now live there came out and they were lovely.

‘They said ‘come inside, go upstairs, take a walk down memory lane’.

‘So we did and we’re back outside, chatting, when she stopped suddenly and said ‘someone’s nicking your car’. I said ‘no – that’s the police moving the car’.

‘And that really confused her. Anyway – at this point her husband comes over. ‘You haven’t clocked have you, he’s the Leader of the Opposition, a politician’.

‘And she stops, she smiles, laughs and says politely, ‘oh if I’d known that you were a politician, I’d have pushed you down the stairs when I had the chance!’.’

Towards the end of his speech this afternoon, Sir Keir spoke of how he uses classical music to escape from the pressures of politics.

‘Even now I turn to Beethoven or Brahms in those moments when, how to put it, the reviews aren’t that good,’ he said.

‘So yes, before you ask – I’ve got some Shostakovich lined up for tomorrow!’

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