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Dear Rishi Sunak MP and Liz Truss MP,
We are writing to you today as a candidate for the Conservative leadership, regarding the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme.
Last year, the BEIS Select Committee published a report on the conditions of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme. Informed by evidence sessions with former miners, trustees of the Scheme, and union representatives, the report analysed the Scheme’s sharing agreement (set up in 1994) which allows government to keep 50% of any surplus from miners’ pensions.
Having received over £4.4 billion from the scheme to date without having contributed a penny, whilst former miners average a pension of £84 a week, the report concluded that the government should not be in the business of profiting from miners’ pensions.
However, despite clear and implementable cross-party recommendations, (i) for the 50/50 surplus sharing arrangement to be comprehensively reviewed to make sure miners get their fair share, and (ii) for the £1.2bn reserve fund to be given back to pensioners immediately; the Government have so far made no progress
towards these changes.
As Coalfield MPs, we therefore write to ask you to do the right thing and agree that should you become Britain’s next Prime Minister, your government will implement the recommendations of the report.
Giving former miners the financial settlement they deserve will not only directly support retired miners, but will also have a significant impact on the local economies of struggling coalfield communities.
We look forward to hearing your response and commitment to change.
Yours sincerely,
Stephanie Peacock MP
Conor McGinn MP
Jonathan Reynolds MP
Rosie Winterton MP
Nick Smith MP
Dan Jarvis MP
Alex Davies Jones MP
Nick Thomas-Symonds MP
Louise Haigh MP
John Healey MP
Yvette Cooper MP
Lisa Nandy MP
Darren Jones MP
Ian Lavery MP
Allan Dorans MP
Mary Glindon MP
Gerald Jones MP
Sarah Champion MP
Wayne David MP
Christina Rees MP
Alan Brown MP
Emma Lewell-Buck MP
Mary Foy MP
Chris Elmore MP
Grahame Morris MP
Beth Winter MP
Owen Thompson MP
Julie Elliot MP
Stephen Kinnock MP
Chris Bryant MP
Simon Lightwood MP
Marie Rimmer MP
Jonathan Edwards MP
Colum Eastwood MP
Kate Osborne MP
Chris Stephens MP
Chris Evans MP
Tonia Antoniazzi MP
Nia Griffith MP
Kevin Brennan MP
Kevan Jones MP
Sharon Hodgson MP
Ian Mearns MP
Toby Perkins MP
Yvonne Fovargue MP
Mike Amesbury MP
Charlotte Nichols MP
Taiwo Owatemi MP
Jon Trickett MP