LABOUR was yesterday forced to promise the elderly will not be hammered by a “granny tax”.

Chancellor is drawing up Budget plans to ensure pensioners are not punished when the triple-lock pushes the annual above £13,000 next year.

A senior woman with glasses reads a leaflet titled "Your State Pension" at home.Labour was yesterday forced to promise the elderly will not be hammered by a ‘granny tax’ when the state pension rises above £13,000 – above the £12,570 threshold Credit: Getty Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey delivers a speech at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry.John Healey is drawing up Budget plans to protect pensioners from a tax hit Credit: Reuters

Tax becomes payable at the current threshold of £12,570.

But if a pensioner has no other income they will not be penalised.

Retirees with other sources will still pay tax.

New figures showed the state pension is likely to go up by 3.9 per cent next year, the same rate as wages.

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith speaking to the media as he leaves BBC Broadcasting House.Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith hit out, saying: ‘Pensioners will spend their last years filling tax returns or on the phone to HMRC’ Credit: PA

Business Secretary initially refused to rule out the retirees paying tax on the state pension next year.

But Minister Torsten Bell said pensioners who only just exceed the personal allowance will not have the “administrative burden” of paying small amounts of tax this .

One ally, economist Andy Haldane, told LBC that money “now suspect that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better videos”.

Shadow Chancellor hit out, saying: “Pensioners will spend their last years filling tax returns or on the phone to .

“Labour will tax everything – from your holiday to Granny’s pension.”

The government faces huge fiscal pressures from high borrowing costs, the Iran war fall-out and welfare costs, such as the state pension rise under the triple lock mechanism.