UK- Thousands are expected to attend the Trades Union Congress rally on Saturday calling for employers and government to pay up for pensions, although this is considerably less than the millions attending similar rallies in other European countries in the last year.

The rally is calling for: the basic state pension to be linked to earnings; a new occupational pensions settlement based on compulsory contributions from employers and employees (with special arrangements for the low paid); action to help women who face much lower pensions in retirement including making it much easier for women who take career breaks to build up a full state pension; and more choice on retirement, not higher retirement ages. The TUC spokeswoman said thousands would attend.

The police was unable to give its own estimate of attendees but it would be much less than the millions who turned out for demonstrations about pension reforms in, for example, Italy and Austria.