Labour fights for pensions cut amid backlash

Labour was frantically looking for “red meat” measures targeting wealthy pensioners last night in order to stop TDs jumping ship in protest at the harshness of tomorrow’s budget.

With most of the key provisions agreed, the junior coalition party was seeking moves to tax high-income pension pots after being blocked by Fine Gael in its bid to increase the universal social charge (USC) for top earners.

A Fine Gael minister was dismissive of the Labour tactics, saying: “This type of last-minute brinkmanship is pathetic, the fact is that there is no fat on the red meat they want and the moves against wealthy pensioners will only be counted in the tens of millions when we need a correction of €3.5bn.”