In several countries across Europe, ‘pensioners parties’ sit in parliament expressly to reflect the interests of older voters. The most successful is perhaps Slovenia, where the Democratic Party of Pensioners had a parliamentary presence from 1992 to 2022, and often made up part of the governing coalition. In the UK, attempts to create pensioners parties have faltered. Now, in a desperate grasp for survival, the Conservatives are attempting to become one.
Rishi Sunak has kicked off the first full week of the campaign with a policy to further entrench the Tory support of better-off older people. Where once the triple lock was enough, now he has unveiled the ‘Triple Lock Plus’. This maintains the same inflation-busting guaranteed increases but with an added perk – the personal tax threshold will rise for pensioners too, keeping those gains out of the hands of the HMRC. Those who work for their money won’t be so lucky.
It’s a pretty craven bit of electioneering.
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