The first budget of the new Labour government included the announcement that we will deliver on our manifesto pledge, and finally deliver justice for the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme.
Our community was built on coal and for decades mining sustained tens of thousands of jobs in Barnsley as our community powered a nation.
It was a dirty, dangerous job, where men risked their lives and health. Thousands were killed in pit disasters and many live to this day with serious health issues and disabilities as a result of their work in the mines.
Ever since an agreement that the government forced through at privatisation in 1994, they have received 50 percent of the Mineworkers’ Pension Fund’s surplus.
In exchange, the government has guaranteed the scheme.
This has resulted in, £4.4bn being taken out, while the average miner receives just £84 a week. Some receive even less.
The call for change started long before I was elected, with Mick Clapham first raising it in the House of Commons. In recent years I have been proud to lead the campaign in Parliament, raising it on a number of occasions, whether that be through over a dozen speeches, questions, or letters.
In 2021, I secured the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s cross-party report into the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, which concluded very clearly that the government ‘should not be in the business of profiting from miners’ pensions’.
That report formed the basis of Labour’s Manifesto commitment, which I am pleased that, just a few months into government, we have delivered on.
The Energy Secretary Ed Miliband MP visited the NUM Miners’ Hall in Barnsley the day after the budget and confirmed the government will return the Investment Reserve Fund to former miners, which currently sits at £1.5bn, providing an immediate uplift to former miners’ weekly pensions.
It is right that this historic injustice has been addressed, and as a result of this Labour government, over 3,500 miners in Barnsley South, and thousands more former miners across the whole of Barnsley, will see an increase to their pension of an average of £29 per week.
