NEW research shows that scrapping free TV licences to over-75s will cost pensioners substantially in the Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly area.

Figures show, according to Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbath MP Lesley Laird that it will cost pensioners in her constituency nearly £1m a year – money, she says, which will go straight to the Treasury’s coffers.

This came as the BBC’s consultation on the future of free TV licences for over-75s closed on Tuesday, February 12.

As part of the last BBC Charter, the Government devolved responsibility for the free TV licence policy, and the cost, to the BBC. Free TV licences are set to be curtailed or cut completely from 2020, despite the Conservatives’ 2017 manifesto promise to protect free TV licences until 2022.

New research by the Labour Party shows that if free TV licences are scrapped completely, 6,540 households in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath would be affected, costing over-75s a combined total of £984,270 a year.

If free TV licences are linked to Pension Credit, 5,040 households will pay a total of £758,520 a year.

If the age threshold is raised to 80, over 75’s would pay a combined total £391,300.

Lesley Laird said: “This makes a mockery of Theresa May’s claim that austerity is over.

“Many elderly residents, a significant proportion of whom face the stark choice of eating or heating over winter, say the TV is their main source of company.

“The thought of these pensioners bearing the additional burden of paying for a TV licence – or going without - doesn’t bear thinking about".

She added: “By outsourcing responsibility for paying for free TV licences, the Government will be saving £745 million across the UK in 2021/22.

“This is in addition to the £220 million the Government will be saving that same year through changes to pension credit.

“Instead of breaking its manifesto promise and pickpocketing from pensioners’ pockets, the Government should take responsibility and save TV licences for the elderly. To do otherwise it utterly heartless.“

Currently a free TV licence is available to all households that have at least one person aged over 75. Free TV licences for over-75s were introduced in 2000 by the Labour Government.

Age UK has found that over two million over-75s would have to go without TV or cut back on essentials such as heating or eating if the concession is scrapped.

1.6 million over-75s live with a disability. Many people who have serious mobility issues and may not be easily able to leave their homes, could lose their TV licence if the benefit is scrapped altogether.