Leaked Labour manifesto includes flexible retirement plans

The Labour Party could introduce a flexible retirement age if it wins this June’s general election, according to a leaked draft copy of its manifesto seen by national newspapers.

The document suggests that Jeremy Corbyn’s party would allow people to retire at different ages depending on the types of jobs they did during their working lives.

For example, somebody whose career involves a lot of manual labour would have a lower retirement age than somebody who is in primarily desk- or office-based employment.

The state pension age is currently set to rise to 66 after December 2018, 67 between 2026 and 2028 and 68 between 2044 and 2046. Labour will not cancel the 2018 rise, but will review further increases.

The details emerged after a copy of the Labour Party’s draft manifesto was leaked to several national newspapers, revealing its plans ahead of June’s general election.

Among the policies are plans to spend an extra £8 billion on social care, the strengthening of trade union rights, the removal of public sector pay caps and a ban on zero-hours contracts.

Corbyn’s party also plans to increase income tax for the highest-earning five per cent of the population and refuses to make what it calls “false promises” over immigration.

“We don’t comment on leaks,” said a Labour Party spokesperson. “Our policies will be laid out when we launch our manifesto, which is a plan to transform Britain for the many, not the few.”

Although shadow chancellor John McDonnell stressed that the manifesto is only a draft and insisted that every policy “will have a costing and a funding source identified”, it was criticised by rivals.

“This is a total shambles,” a Conservative Party spokesman told the BBC. “Jeremy Corbyn’s plans to unleash chaos on Britain have been revealed. The commitments in this dossier will rack up tens of billions of extra borrowing for our families and will put Brexit negotiations at risk.”

Photo from Garry Knight (Public Domain). Cropped.