Labour will not raise state pension age, says Rachel Reeves

Labour will not raise the state pension age if it wins the next general election, Rachel Reeves has said.

The state pension age is already set to increase from 66 to 67 in 2028 and then to 68 by the mid-2040s amid an ageing population.

But Ms Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said there was no “justification” to increase the threshold despite warnings it may have to rise to 70 by 2040 to balance the public finances.

In a phone-in on LBC Radio, she said: “What you’d need to see for any further increases in the state pension age is life expectancy increasing and sadly it’s going backwards at the moment, but also healthy life expectancy, and sadly that is also going back at the moment.

“So I don’t think there’s any justification for further increases in the state pension age.”

Earlier this year, Ms Reeves was accused of not knowing how the state pension worked following a spat with Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, on social media.

Mr Hunt said his Labour counterpart was “scaremongering” after she warned the Government’s cuts to National Insurance would result in less money for both the state pension and the NHS.

Ms Reeves had argued in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that National Insurance Contributions (NICs) fund the pension system and the health service, only for users of the platform to point out it was a “common misconception” that NICs were ringfenced for social security programmes.

Relations with Muslim voters ‘frayed’

During the same phone-in, Ms Reeves admitted relations between her party and Muslim voters are “frayed” after many abandoned Labour at last week’s local elections over its stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“We do want to rebuild relations, which we know are frayed with the Muslim community,” she said.

“That’s important work that we will be undertaking, led by Keir Starmer and David Lammy. We want to rebuild those relations so they can vote for Labour again.”

Labour lost control of Oldham Council in Greater Manchester, where a quarter of the population is Muslim, despite claiming big victories elsewhere in the country, amid a backlash to Sir Keir Starmer’s initial refusal to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

It also lost two councillors in Rochdale, an area with a similarly high Muslim population, to George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.

Mr Galloway, who has branded himself “Gaza George”, has been strongly critical of Sir Keir’s stance on the conflict, having stood candidates on pro-Palestinian tickets in an effort to attract disillusioned Labour voters.

The shadow chancellor also recently welcomed a decision by the Garrick Club to admit female members for the first time in its history.

After refusing to allow women to join the exclusive club for more than 190 years, it is understood that the Garrick held a vote and approximately 60 per cent voted in favour of the policy change.

The Garrick had faced mounting pressure to change its admission policy following the resignation of several of its members, including Simon Case, the head of the Civil Service, and Richard Moore, the MI6 chief.

“It’s important that all clubs, all institutions, welcome men and women,” Ms Reeves said.

“I do believe that private members clubs should be open to men and women so well done to the Garrick Club for catching up.”