A Tory idea to raise the state pension age to 75 is a plan to 'kill off the working class' in communities like Anfield.

That's the view of people representing areas like Anfield - where the average life expectancy is just 74.6 years.

If the idea - suggested by Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith's think tank - goes ahead it would mean people living in communities like Anfield and others in Liverpool would effectively be forced to work until they are dead.

The report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) says Britain can no longer afford the current plan to raise the pension age to 67 in 2028 then 68 by 2046, so it must be sped up.

It proposes raising the eligible age to 70 by 2028 and 75 by 2035.

The report has been widely condemned - and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has been forced to rule out that it will become government policy.

But as Walton MP Dan Carden pointed out, the CSJ were also responsible for the idea behind Universal Credit - the hugely controversial benefit policy that has pushed so many people in his deprived constituency into hardship and despair.

He said: "The same Tory ‘think tank’ that dreamed up Universal Credit is now laying the groundwork for the state pension age to be raised to 75, claiming: “working longer potentially improves health and wellbeing”. This is absolute nonsense.

(Image: Liverpoool Echo)

"In the most deprived parts of Liverpool, the average life expectacy is 74.6 years. If the Tories had their way, many of the people I represent would never see the pensions they worked their whole lives for.

"This is a horrible policy that discriminates against working class people who don't have the means to retire early, and don't live as long in retirement. The DWP Secretary should rule it out immediately."

He added: "From rising pensioner poverty and the social care crisis, to the pension age injustice highlighted by the WASPI campaign, to the stripping away of free TV licenses for over 75s, the treatment of older people under this government has been shameful."

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In recent times, the Labour party has been discussing the idea of a Universal Basic Income more and more.

The idea would mean that everyone would receive a basic wage, regardless of their circumstances.

(Image: Liverpool Echo/James Maloney)

Mr Carden said that this is a far better policy for dealing with the changing nature of work and pensions than raising the age so dramatically.

He said: "It doesn't have to be this way. The onset of automation and changing nature of work is giving rise to ideas around a Basic Income, universal services and a shorter working week. Labour must continue to take a lead in these conversations.

"Failed Tory ideology offers nothing but misery for the majority. We must fight for a society rooted in the priciple that we should work to live, not live to work."