Articles and Speeches

Pensions - The Chancellor's Mean Trick
13-Apr-07, Windsor Express Article.

Some of the most vulnerable people in our society are pensioners, and many rely on private and occupational pensions, that they have contributed to throughout their working lives, to keep them in their old age. Gordon Brown’s decision 10 years ago to scrap tax relief on pensions is one of the reasons that so many pensioners have had their pensions fall far short of expected, resulting in financial hardship.

It has now come to light that the Chancellor wqw advised in 1997 that abolishing pension tax relief would make a big hole in pension finances, and could result in a shortfall of up to £75 billion! But in a decision which revealed his utter contempt for British pensioners, the Chancellor decided to go ahead with his plans anyway, behaving like a confidence trickster by perpetrating a sneaky and complex financial fraud on us.

The Chancellor tells us that his decision made the economy stronger and a Treasury spokesman has tried to blame raised life expectancy for the shortfall in pensions. But try telling that to those pensioners who are struggling through their retirement due to the Chancellor’s mean trick.