Rachel Reeves’s budget ended arrangement whereby government took half surplus of pension scheme

Former miners have said they are delighted their “hard-fought campaign has finally paid off” after the government said it would end the pension scandal that left many of them “dying in abject poverty”.

In her first budget on Wednesday, Rachel Reeves announced the £1.5bn mineworkers’ pension fund would be handed over in its entirety to ex-miners and their families, after years of campaigning on an unjust agreement that allowed the government to take half of their pension surplus. The pensions of 112,000 former coalminers will rise 32% – an average increase of £29 a week – from November this year.