Speaking to BBC Look North, Mr Hoggan, who worked at Lofthouse Colliery in Wakefield between 1973 and 2004, said: “What we want from our pension scheme is the money that we’ve paid in… rather than the government taking 50% of any surplus from a scheme that they’ve not contributed a single penny into.
“On average, 8,000 mineworkers die every year – and that money goes into government coffers, which is totally obscene.
“It should be going to mineworkers, and not the government.”
“For a lot of the guys, it’s our last hurrah”, Mr Burkhill, from Rotherham, told BBC Radio Sheffield, explaining the sentiment behind the trip to Westminster.
“Obviously, mining had a big effect on all of us health-wise – some of the guys simply can’t get there because of their disabilities.”
He said those who are travelling to London were representing “all of the miners that are still left alive”; they wanted to tell the government – “you’ve taken enough money from us”.
In April 2021, a cross-party committee of MPs said the government should stop taking money from the scheme and pay back some of what it had already received.
Labour has promised to review the arrangements if it wins power at the next election, with shadow minister Ed Miliband telling the BBC in March there had been “deep unfairness and injustice” in the Conservatives’ approach to the issue.
A government spokesperson said it was “protecting the pensions of mineworkers while striking a fair balance between scheme members and taxpayers”.
“Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme members are receiving payments 33% higher than they would have been as a result of the government’s guarantee,” the spokesperson added.
“On most occasions, the scheme has been in surplus, and scheme members have received bonuses in addition to their guaranteed pension.”
