A BOROUGH MP has spoken of his concerns for the “hardest working” people in his constituency.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones spoke out in the wake of George Osborne’s autumn statement which foresaw people working for longer before retirement.

Mr Jones said it was of paramount importance that manual labour was not “overlooked” in plans to extend working life.

He said: “Yet again, the hardest working people in our society are the ones who are going to have to shoulder the heaviest burden.

“In some professions working longer will not be the problem it is for jobs which involve manual labour.

“It shouldn’t be necessary to work until you drop.”

Mr Osborne announced in his speech last week plans for the pension age to "keep track with life expectancy" to save future taxpayers £500bn.

The date when the state pension age rises to 68 will be brought forward to the mid-2030s.