Plans to raise the retirement age to 70 were lambasted as "a betrayal of future generations" yesterday.

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) said Chancellor George Osborne's decision is based on inaccurate assumptions about life expectancy which, contrary to Tory claims, the Office for National Statistics says have fallen.

At age 65, men are now predicted to live a further 18 years compared with 19 years in 2009, and for women, life expectancy from 65 has fallen from 21.3 years to 20.6 years.