'We want justice' - Wearside miners and widows pictured marching to Downing Street

Wearside protestors today stepped up their fight to get pensions justice for mineworkers.

Hundreds of them, including campaigners from the Sunderland area, turned up today to march on Downing Street.

Demanding justice for miners

They were joined by Easington MP Grahame Morris who was due to lead a Commons debate on the subject tomorrow.

He said their purpose was clear: ‘to demand justice for miners, miners’ widows, and their families.”

He said the Government’s ‘ongoing theft’ of half the Mineworkers Pension Scheme’s surpluses while retired miners struggle in poverty is ‘unacceptable’.

Could this be their last march?

His comments come just hours after former Murton miner Bert Moncur told the Echo he would be at the head of the protest.

Bert worked at Murton Colliery from 1974 until its closure in 1991. He said it may be the last time that such a march could take place.

Representatives of the National Mineworkers Pension Campaign, including Bert, claim billions of pounds have been taken from the scheme. In 2021, the Sunderland Echo reported that hundreds of ex-miners had died without ever seeing a penny of the several billion raised through the scheme since the privatisation of British Coal in the 1990s.

A debate lasting decades

It was agreed the Government would act as guarantor for the corporation’s pension payouts, the Echo added.

It said that, since privatisation of the scheme in 1994, the Government has received 50% of surpluses in its value, in return for providing a guarantee that the value of pensions will not decrease.

This has resulted in the Treasury siphoning off nearly £5 billion from the pension fund, at a time when some pensioners receive as little as £10 a week, said Mr Morris.

Chronic health from years spent in the pits

He added: “Miners endure chronic health conditions stemming from their years in the pits, resulting in shorter lives and retirements marred by industrial disease.

“Those who toiled in these perilous conditions deserve the full benefits of the pension scheme their labour and contributions built.

“The Government must listen to our communities and working people, who seek nothing more than safety and security in retirement from a pension fund they established."