Minister says Tories will pay for pensions policy by clamping down on tax avoidance

Stride said the government had taken ‘bold and difficult decisions’ to get the economy growing and bring down inflation. Photograph: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The work and pensions secretary has said Labour will drag millions of older people into paying income tax while the Conservatives can “comfortably” raise the money for their proposed cuts for pensioners by clamping down on tax avoidance.

Under the Conservatives’ “triple lock plus” proposal , “millions of pensioners will get tax cuts worth hundreds of pounds over the next parliament”, Mel Stride told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.