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Former miner Ken Sullivan should be making the most of his ­retirement now after 45 years down the pit and triple heart ­bypass surgery seven years ago.

But he and wife Eira cannot afford nights out or holidays and budget everything down to the last penny.

Things would be easier if they had the other half of Ken’s miner’s pension, pocketing £156 a week instead of £78.

But the Government has that – part of the £10billion that has been raided from miners’ pension pots since 1994.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

Ken, 67, of Tredegar, Gwent, has heard thousands of heartbreaking stories over the past three years as he visited every village and town in the impoverished former pit communities of South Wales, gathering signatures for a petition against the “great pension deception”.

And yesterday, he joined colleagues from Yorkshire, the North East, Kent and Nottinghamshire to deliver the 120,000-name document to Downing Street, demanding back the cash that so many have been “robbed” of.

Ken, who worked at Oakdale Colliery, said: “We’ve had tremendous support but it’s been shocking to discover even miners themselves are oblivious to the depths of this betrayal.

“Their communities have been destroyed and they’ve been left to scrape by on a pittance while the Government uses their pension billions as a slush fund to dip into at will.

“Gathering signatures, I spoke to one widow who gets £8.50 a week. Her husband spent a lifetime underground and died at 60. The Government has had more than its fair share. It’s time to stop.”

(Image: Harry Parfitt)

The scandal dates to 1994, when British Coal was privatised. The Government vowed to back two funds – the Miners’ Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme – in return for a 50-50 split on any surplus earned.

It was estimated the funds would earn the Treasury £2billion over the next 25 years with members sharing the same sum.

But Energy Minister Claire Perry confessed the Government has had £4.4billion from the MPS alone since 1994 and the Tories have taken £720million since 2016 – £617million in 2018 alone. They plan to take another £427million over the next three years. Meanwhile, former miners get an average of £85 a week.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – who signed the petition – said: “It is scandalous.

“There must be a renegotiation and the Government must correct this injustice.”

(Image: Paul Stevey/Hook News)

In the week marking 35 years since the end of the 1984-1985 strike, the sense of injustice is still strong. Paul Stevey was an electrician at Manchester’s Agecroft Colliery and is now living in a caravan on a pension of just £75 a week.

The 58-year-old, of Allonby, Cumbria, said: “I sold my home six years ago and the caravan was meant to be a stop-gap while I found something smaller. But the cost of living ate into my savings and now I can’t afford to buy a home. I get another £70 a week from my late wife’s pension but it’s all soon gone once I’ve paid site fees and utilities, I barely have enough to live on.

“Even so, that bit of income means I haven’t been able to get Universal Credit or access free training schemes.” Emlyn Davies moved in with daughter Maggie in Mountain Ash, South Wales, six years ago after losing wife Gwynneth.

The 73-year-old, in remission from prostate cancer, cut coal by hand from 15. He was made redundant during the closure of Penrhiwceiber Colliery in 1985 and gets £58 a week.

Emlyn says: “We ended up selling our house. Gwynneth and I moved into a council house and later our savings dwindled as I nursed her. I took her death badly and moved in with Maggie in 2013.

“I shouldn’t be in this position. There’s no way I could afford to live alone. The Government kidnapped our money.”

(Image: Mark Lewis)

His friend Harry Parfitt, also at Penrhiwceiber, is wheelchair-bound with a spine condition he says was caused by pit work. He paid into the pot from 1951 yet gets just £78 a week.

Harry, 85, has spent years helping to gather signatures and says: “I’m doing this for everyone suffering because the Government robbed our money. The miners never agreed to this 50-50 split, the unions didn’t agree – what has happened is criminal.”

MPs Jonathan Edwards and Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru turned out for the petition hand-over at 3pm. Mick Newton, of the UK Mineworkers’ Pension Association, said efforts compiling it were “testament to the strength of feeling on this”.

Minister Claire Perry last year asked the Department for Business to liaise with pension trustees and “explore options” for a review. She said this week: “I’ve received some interesting proposals from the trustees we are currently considering.”

The MPS said talks were confidential, adding: “When there is any news, we will communicate with the scheme’s members.”