Conservatives are committed to ensuring that every pensioner has a secure retirement

Pensioners who have worked hard throughout their lives deserve dignity and security in retirement.

They have worked hard. They have saved what they could. Many have fought for and served our country. The very least they deserve is to be able to afford life’s necessities and enjoy a decent retirement.

This week in Parliament, I led a debate on the importance of protecting our pensioners. The debate was triggered after more than 120,000 people signed a petition – a real show of support for Britain’s pensioners.

A view has emerged in some quarters – particularly online – that pensioners are all wealthy; that they all drive expensive cars, take multiple holidays each year, and own several properties which they rent out to younger generations.

Whilst that may be true for a small minority, it is certainly not the reality for the vast majority of pensioners, and certainly not for the pensioners I represent in the Scottish Borders. Many pensioners live on modest incomes, often relying solely on the state pension or small private pensions that they have worked hard and saved for throughout their lives.

The man who started the petition, Tim Mason, got in touch with me ahead of the debate in Parliament. He told me how he receives a Royal Mail pension of around £400 a month. However, once he receives his state pension, that Royal Mail pension is reduced to around £290 a month. He said his motivation for starting the petition was that many other pensioners undoubtedly find themselves in a similar position – paying tax on relatively modest pensions that they have worked hard and saved for throughout their working lives.

We should recognise and celebrate the fact that one of the great achievements of successive governments over the past 30 years has been the reduction in pensioner poverty. Just a few decades ago, 28% of pensioners lived in poverty. That was a shameful statistic.

By 2024, that figure had fallen to 12% for pensioner couples and 16% for pensioners overall. Poverty among pensioners is now lower than in any other age group in the United Kingdom.

When the Conservatives came to office in 2010, it had not been an easy time for Britain’s pensioners. Gordon Brown’s Labour Government had just delivered a totally unacceptable 75p increase in the state pension.

That is why the Conservatives introduced the Triple Lock. We remain committed to it today, and between 2010 and 2024 it helped increase the basic state pension by £3,700 a year.

The reality is, however, that many pensioners still struggle. They are making ends meet on relatively small incomes and often face additional pressures, including higher heating costs. That challenge was made much worse after Labour came to power in 2024, when one of its first acts in government was to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment, leaving many pensioners worried about heating their homes.

There is a lot we can do to improve the lives of pensioners – and it would benefit everyone in society too.

Take property taxes. It is totally unfair that someone wishing to move home can face a tax bill running into thousands of pounds. This is a particular problem for pensioners who want to downsize, but it also affects younger people trying to get onto the property ladder.

We should scrap Stamp Duty and the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland. Doing so would make it easier for pensioners to move into homes that better suit their needs, potentially releasing capital while also freeing up family homes for those who need them.

Before the election, Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband promised to cut household energy bills by £300. That would have made a significant difference to pensioners. Instead, household energy bills have risen by £294.

If we are serious about helping pensioners, we need to bring energy bills down, and the Conservatives have a plan to do exactly that. We can scrap renewable energy subsidies, abolish the carbon tax, and cut VAT on household energy bills. These measures would make a real difference, helping pensioners keep more of the money they have worked hard to earn and save throughout their lives.

These are practical, tangible changes that would improve the lives of pensioners immediately and continue to make a difference month after month, whilst also benefiting the wider economy.

I’ll keep fighting for pensioners. They deserve the opportunity to enjoy a comfortable and secure retirement. As Members of Parliament and policymakers, that is precisely what we should be striving to achieve every single day.