Pensioners in and around Holmfirth were the keenest on George Osborne’s controversial ‘pensioner bonds’ scheme around Huddersfield.

Only people aged 65 or over were able to buy the savings bonds from the government at generous rates of interest starting in January and ending a week after May’s general election.

In all, almost 5,000 Huddersfield pensioners took up the offer. Some 986 pensioners from the HD9 postcode, which covers Holmfirth, Honley and Thongsbridge bought into the scheme. This was more than anywhere else in the HD postcode area.

Pensioners in parts of rural west Yorkshire to the southeast of Huddersfield also signed up to the Chancellor’s offer in droves, according to exclusive figures given to the Examiner under freedom of information laws.

The age limit and the timing of the scheme led critics to brand it a ‘bribe’ for elderly people to vote Conservative at the election.

A total of 983 older people in HD8 bought pensioner bonds. This postcode covers a swathe of land from Fenay Bridge down to Upper Denby.

Other areas that were keen on the scheme were Brighouse and HD3, which covers Lindley and the M62 corridor.

Older people tend to live away from town centres, so unsurprisingly only 108 over 65s in the HD1 postcode, covering central Huddersfield, bought pensioner bonds.

A one-year bond had an interest rate of 2.8% while a three-year bond was 4.0%.

Buying £10,000 worth of the bonds on the three-year rate will return £1,250 in total interest before tax - much more than you would get putting your savings in a high-street savings account.

A total of 4,944 customers signed up to the scheme from the Huddersfield postcode area.

Postal District = Total

HD9 = 986

HD8 = 983

HD6 = 618

HD3 = 549

HD5 = 481

HD4 = 477

HD7 = 376

HD2 = 366

HD1 =108