French workers take to the streets over Macron’s plan to push state pension age to 64… as UK ministers prepare to make millions more Britons wait till 68 (and we have LOWER life expectancy)
- France crippled by protests over pension age rise for second time this month
- Increase to 64 in France contrasts to the push to speed rise to 68 in the UK
French workers took to the streets today as they protest against Emmanuel Macron’s plan to push the state pension age from 62 to 64.
Transport blockages and mass strikes are threatening to bring the country to a standstill for the second time this month over the policy.
The situation contrasts dramatically with the UK, where ministers are currently mulling speeding up the increase in the retirement age to 68 – even though life expectancy is lower on most metrics.
Mr Macron has vowed to push ahead with his drive to reduce the burden on state pensions despite a million people being expected to join protests.
Some 11,000 police have been mobilised across the country, with 4,000 deployed in Paris.
French workers took to the streets today as they protest against Emmanuel Macron’s plan to push the state pension age from 62 to 64. Pictured, French high school students block the access to the Lycee Turgot in Paris
Transport blockages and mass strikes are threatening to bring France to a standstill for the second time this month over the policy
Mr Macron (left) has vowed to push ahead with his pension reforms despite the protests. Meanwhile in the UK, Jeremy Hunt (right) is said to be pushing for the state pension age to rise to 68 by 2035 – potentially affecting huge numbers currently in their early 50s and 40s
Analysis by think-tank the King’s Fund has found that life expectancy at birth was 85.3 years for women and 79.2 for men in France in 2020. The equivalent figures for Brits were 82.4 and 78.4 years.
Most Paris metro and suburban rail services are severely restricted and just one in three high-speed trains are expected to run.
On January 19, some 1.1million took to the streets to rally against the shake-up – the largest protests since the last major round of pension reform in 2010.
Meanwhile, UK ministers are engaged in a furious split over making millions more Brits work until they are 68.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is said to be pushing for the state pension age to rise to 68 by 2035 – potentially affecting the retirements of around 10million people currently between 45 and 55.
The dramatic move could help with the battle to stabilise the government finances in the wake of Covid and the Ukraine war.
However, ministers have been warned they are ‘playing with fire’ – and Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride is believed to be pushing for a later date.
The government announced its intention to raise the retirement age to 68 by the end of the 2030s after the Cridland review was carried out in 2017.
But Mr Stride is said to be worried that advances in life expectancy have fallen short of the predictions used in that study – meaning that people will not enjoy as long in retirement.
That would suggest that the schedule should actually be slowed down, rather than brought forward to 2035.
Analysis by think-tank the King’s Fund has found that life expectancy at birth was 85.3 years for women and 79.2 for men in France in 2020.
The equivalent figures for Brits were 82.4 and 78.4 years.
The ageing population and rising life expectancy have been pushing up the costs of the UK state pension for decades
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