A PROPOSAL by a think-tank close to the Conservative Party to raise the pension age to 75 has been condemned by Bolton South-East MP Yasmin Qureshi.

The Centre for Social Justice, founded by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, says the threshold for the state benefit should move to 70 by 2028 for both men and women and 75 by 2035.

Labour justice spokeswoman Ms Qureshi said: "This is not yet government policy, but it is alarming to read that the ideologues the Tories look to for policy advice have such a flagrant disregard for the working population.

This is an outrageous suggestion, deserving only contempt.

"The British people have toiled, paid their taxes and National Insurance Contributions for decades with the expectation that, at the very least, they would receive a basic income during their retirement. Instead, the mindset of the right is to eke out every penny from our working population, and force them into labour until they drop."