‘Disgrace’ for rising inflation to be blamed on retirees – YOUR VIEW | Personal Finance | Finance

At the London School of Economics last week, Mr Bailey explained: “The rise in economic inactivity is a change to the supply of labour, independent of demand, in particular by older workers.”

He added: “We should expect this to put upward pressure on inflation in a way that would call for a higher level of interest rates to dampen demand.”

READ MORE: Andrew Bailey says early retirement puts ‘pressure on inflation’

In response, Express.co.uk ran a poll from 1.45pm on Tuesday, March 28, to 3pm on Wednesday, April 5, asking readers: “Is Andrew Bailey right to blame retirees for threatening inflation?”

Overall, 1,031 votes were cast, with the overwhelming majority, 94 percent (972 people) answering “no”, Mr Bailey is not right to blame older Britons, whereas five percent (50 people) said “yes” the retired population is to blame. A further one percent (nine people) said they did not know either way.

In the comments left below the accompanying article and another Express.co.uk article, readers debated whether retired Britons were at fault.

The majority of readers agreed that the retired population should not be blamed. Username The Moorlander said: “Pensions are taxable income. Secondly, those pensions are not hoarded, they are spent which helps fund businesses. The idea that they fuel inflation is flawed.”

Similarly, username bestcomment wrote: “High inflation was caused by the Bank of England not increasing interest rates much sooner, hence why it is coming down now. Trying to shift blame to those who have worked hard all their lives for inflation is a disgrace.”

Meanwhile, other readers made suggestions as to what was putting pressure on inflation. Username Foxxx said: “Higher interest rates, taxation and working from home are to blame for inflation.”

Another, username Thomas Cat said: “Keeping interest rates too low for too long has been the main cause of inflation.”