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Darren Jones made the comment after Lib Dem David Chadwick said the cash - some of which will be spent over a decade - was "insulting".

With each annual pension credit claim costing the government £3,900 a year on average, the former Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb has calculated that the total annual cost of these new claims could be about £234m.

The newly minted Lib Dem council leader, Leigh Frost, does not think so.

The two MPs have added their names to a growing list of their colleagues who have suggested they will switch sides including: Tory former minister George Freeman, Tory MPs Mike Wood and Andrew Snowden, Lib Dem Brian Matthew, Labour's Jonathan Hinder, Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson and ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

Lib Dem defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire said her party welcomed the government's plan, but warned "meeting generational risks will require generational commitments".