MP
for Gosport, Peter Viggers, yesterday raised the issues
of means-testing for pensioners and the collapse of final
salary schemes, during the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget
statement.
He
asked the Chancellor, “…will
the Chancellor tell us what part he thinks that he, personally,
played in the collapse of final salary pension schemes?
And as a former opponent of means-testing, what pride does
he take in the fact that 40 per cent of the population,
and well over 50 percent of the pensioner population, are
now subjected to means-tested benefits from the state?”
In
response to Peter the Chancellor Stated stated, “Pension
credit goes to 3.3 million people. It is easy to claim;
it can be done by telephone. It is claimed for a period
of years, not just for one year. He should be encouraging
his constituents, rather than declaiming pension credit,
because it is a proper way forward. As for the reform of
pensions generally, I hope that he will support the pensions
Bill that will be brought forward in the next few months
to get a framework that we can agree across parties for
the development of pensions for the future”.
Speaking
afterwards, Peter said, “The Chancellor does not
seem to understand damage he has done to the pensions industry
by imposing a £3bn tax upon it at a moment when pension
funds had underestimated the longevity of people in pension
schemes and at a time when the Stock Exchange was weak,
leading to underinvestment in pension funds.
“The
Chancellor was not the prime cause of the problems, but
the damage happened when he in charge and he made it much
worse. The result will be that millions of 30 to 40 yr
olds will not enjoy standard of living of today's pensioners.
“Gordon
Brown promised to rid country of the scourge of means-testing
and has in fact increased it - 55% of pensioners and rising
are dependent on the state for means-tested benefits and
some workers on high salaries are subject to means testing
if they have children: workers earning up to £60,000
are subject to means-testing.
“This is a pernicious
example of the socialist government making people dependent
upon it”. |
