Miners march on Downing Street against 'daylight robbery' in pension row

Former miners have marched on Downing Street calling on the government to return money to a pension scheme which they say could benefit some of the poorest communities in the country.

Around 50 ex-pit workers from the North East joined the protest in central London on Wednesday 8 May against what they call "the biggest pension grab of all time".

They argue that it is unfair that the government takes 50 per cent of all surplus money generated by the Mineworkers Pension Scheme under a guarantee introduced in 1994, when British Coal was privatised.

Since then, the guarantee has generated around £5 billion for the government and campaigners say that if current trends continue, the government could take another £1 billion over the next decade.

Bert Moncur, who worked at Murton Colliery in County Durham, led the march in the capital. He said: "They took away death funds and everything else. Any penny they can take off the miners, they do it.

"It's been an absolute disgrace. It's daylight robbery. No government should be robbing its people, full stop. They didn't put a penny in. They keep saying they're protecting the taxpayer. How are the taxpayers being protected if they didn't make a penny out of it?

"We put the money in, British Coal put the money in. British Coal had a holiday from the end of the miner's strike till they closed. It's our money, it's not theirs.

"We hope to make that difference. This is only one rally. If we've got to keep coming back to the day we stop breathing, we'll be back."

The former miners claim that since 1994, successive governments, both Labour and Conservative, have let the mining community down - particularly the widows of former mineworkers, who only receive around £8 to £10 per week.

In 2021, a parliamentary select committee urged the government to 'right the wrongs' of the scheme by paying out around £1.2 billion to top up the pensions of former mineworkers.

At the time, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said that given the "vast sums" paid from the scheme to the government, it was "unconscionable" that miners were struggling.

Grahame Morris MP, who represents Easington, said: "This is the miners' money. The government and British Coal, the NCB, have made no contribution to that fund for almost fifty years, ten years before the strike. I think that's an unreasonable sum to take out.

"Even in the worst of times economically, the global crash of 2009, the government were never asked to contribute to underwrite the scheme.

"So unless there was some financial commitment or cost to the government, I don't think there's a strong moral or legal case for them to be taking billions of pounds out of the scheme. That could benefit some of the poorest people. A widow's pension is very modest, some as low as £8 per week.

"I think the miners have got a just demand here and if this government won't address it, I want to try and get a commitment that the next government will."

In response to the march, a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We are protecting the pensions of mineworkers, while striking a fair balance between scheme members and taxpayers.

"Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme members are receiving payments 33 per cent higher than they would have been as a result of the Government’s guarantee.

“On most occasions, the scheme has been in surplus, and scheme members have received bonuses in addition to their guaranteed pension.”

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