Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling has written to the Newcastle Journal after a petition on pensions was delivered to the Government.

He ruled out restoring the link between pensions and average earnings – a key part of the Journal petition, which was signed by more than 3,000 people.

He told the paper and its readers that new plans to tackle pensioner poverty would mean more cash for the elderly than they would get from the earnings link.

In the letter he hailed the new “pensioner credit” as the answer – and said it would give them more than an inflation rise or earnings link.

His letter said: “I understand your concerns, and those of your readers, about ensuring a decent pension in retirement.

“But I don’t believe that linking the basic state pension with earnings would be the best way of helping pensioners.”

Campaigners say single pensioners are £30 a week worse off because of the severed earnings link, leaving 160,000 pensioners in the north east living in extreme poverty.

The minister said the means-tested Minimum Income Guarantee would ensure the worst-off would have £90 a week.

That was not enough to convince Mary Pattison, of the Consett Pensioners’ Rights group, who pledged to fight for an earnings link. She said: “Unless we get it, the Government gets no votes.”

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