'Poor have lower life expectancy so lose more having to wait'

She said more than half the UK population was in poor health in their sixties, with those on lower incomes worst hit.

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The Government's review will look at if the state pension age should be set so people spend just under a third of their adult life in retirement.

Treasury watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the cost of the state pension will reach 7.7% of GDP by 2073-74, or around £200billion in today's terms, up from 5% GDP or £138bn today.

The cost has grown steadily over the past eight decades, thanks largely to rising life expectancy and a low birth rate which means the number of elderly people has risen faster than the number in work.

Costs have also increased partly because of the "triple lock" policy, in which state pension payments go up every year by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5%, which the Express has campaigned to keep.