The Conservatives have promised to raise the tax-free pension allowance via a "Triple Lock Plus" if they win the general election
GB News host Eamonn Holmes was left fuming after the Tories announced that if elected, they will raise the tax-free pension allowance via a "Triple Lock Plus".
Under the plans, the personal allowance for pensioners will increase at least 2.5 per cent or in line with the highest of earnings or inflation.
Labour has criticised the move heavily by arguing that it is not "credible".
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride defended the pledge on GB News this morning, claiming that "pensioners deserve to retire with dignity" and said that they will fund the cuts by "clamping down on tax avoidance".
However, his answer left Eamonn livid as he asked: "Instead, you just steal money from those out there earning it then? By that, I mean through retrospective taxes such as the IR35."
IR35, or off-payroll working rules, ensures that a worker (sometimes known as a contractor) pays broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance as an employee would.
Stride responded: "There are rules behind IR35 and the nature of the way that people should be taxed. What we have done, for those who are of working age, is slash national insurance for employees by one-third. So that means that they will be getting a £900 reduction in their taxes as a result of those tax cuts that we have announced."
Eamonn asked him: "Okay, but where are you getting this extra money from to pay for that?"
Stride responded: "In terms of how we will fund those tax cuts for pensioners, that is by clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion. That's £6 billion that we can save by the end of 2035. IR35 is a completely different matter to pensioners and taxation.
Eamonn responded: "No, but it isn't to people who are out there earning because you go out and you say to them, I know we've said you've been self-employed for all these years, but we're now changing our mind and you're not self-employed.
"So, you give with one hand and you take with another. Somebody has to pay for these pension rises and it's going to be working people, people who are window cleaners and freelance nurses and freelance doctors and freelance anything. You don't like that."
