{"id":4730,"date":"2026-10-28T10:46:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/politics-home-article-ministers-in-budget-eve-row-with-labour-mps-over-miner-pension-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T10:46:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:46:53","slug":"politics-home-article-ministers-in-budget-eve-row-with-labour-mps-over-miner-pension-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/politics-home-article-ministers-in-budget-eve-row-with-labour-mps-over-miner-pension-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics Home Article | Ministers In Budget Eve Row With Labour MPs Over Miner Pension Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andy Burnham and John Healey meet ahead of the budget | (Alamy)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \"Harriet <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n 2 min read<\/span>27 October<\/span>
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There is fury among Labour MPs from\u00a0mining seats on Budget eve over government plans to renege on a promise to transfer pension funds to former miners.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Labour MPs were informed\u00a0on Tuesday that ministers\u00a0no longer planned to transfer what remains of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to former mine workers as expected, PoliticsHome understands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, PoliticsHome understands that the Treasury is looking to renegotiate the existing 50\/50 surplus-sharing arrangement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The saga\u00a0dates back to 1994 when British Coal was privatised\u00a0and ministers agreed that the government would act as guarantor for its pension payouts.<\/p>\n

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves ended the 30-year-old arrangement in her first Budget in 2024, transferring part of the fund (\u00a31.5bn) to members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Labour MPs in affected areas were expecting beneficiaries to receive the remaining funds, believed to be worth \u00a31.2bn.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, backbenchers were urging the government to change course, making urgent representations to No 10 ahead of Chancellor John Healey delivering the Andy Burnham administration’s first Budget on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

John Trickett, Labour MP for Normanton and Hemsworth, told PoliticsHome: \u201cWe owe a moral duty to the miners and the government must show that it has listened, understands and will act in this matter. Nothing less will do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Labour MP told PoliticsHome: \u201cI hope John [Healey] makes the right decision; miners and their families are part of our core voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour MPs urging ministers to reconsider\u00a0have warned the government that\u00a0current plans risked being seen as a\u00a0“betrayal” that Reform UK would capitalise on between now and the next general election.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Burnham met with coal miners during his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election earlier this year.<\/p>\n

At the time he told The Mirror: “I have stood with coalfield communities for more than 20 years, and as Makerfield’s voice in Westminster, I will keep fighting to make sure every promise is honoured and every penny reaches the people it is meant for.”<\/p>\n

The Treasury declined to comment on speculation ahead of the Budget tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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Andy Burnham and John Healey meet ahead of the budget | (Alamy) 2 min read27 October There is fury among Labour MPs from\u00a0mining seats on Budget eve over government plans to renege on a promise to transfer pension funds to former miners. Labour MPs were informed\u00a0on Tuesday that ministers\u00a0no longer planned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}