Ex-miners left to die in abject poverty as pensions raided, say campaigners

Group has renewed calls to end deal that sees government take 50% of surplus funds on the 40th anniversary of strikes

Former miners are “dying in abject poverty” and “can’t afford to bury themselves” while the government takes billions of pounds out of their pension funds, campaigners have said, on the 40th anniversary of the miners strikes.

The National Mineworkers Pension Campaign said former prime minister Boris Johnson “lied through his back teeth” when he promised in 2019 to end an arrangement that has seen the government take 50% of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme surplus funds in exchange for a commitment that the pot’s value would not drop.