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The Man Who Stole Your Old Age Brown’s pension tax bombshell has forced up council tax, claim Tories Who'd vote for the pension snatcher now? Brown has made it pointless saving for a pension Brown 'railroaded' £5bn pension raid Pensions scandal hits Brown leadership bid Brown can't say he wasn't told of the risk to pensions Brown's pension raid 'cost savers £100bn' "Pension reforms dangerous"- Frank Field Labour 'worse than Maxwell' on pensions Sorry, but they've made a mess of it Public sector pensions at soaring cost Brown and Blair, two guilty men Millions more from taxpayers to fund MPs' gold-plated pensions Pensions: How this Labour Government betrayed us Pensions shortfall could be £160bn, economists warn Another pensions retreat as Labour caves in to firemen 100,000 more work on past retirement age Brown knew pension fund raid would rob employees of £12billion Brown 'hiding the truth over £180bn pensions shortfall' Pensions - why things can only get worse Gordon Brown's Pensions raid will return to haunt us CBI chief's farewell barrage on pensions Sorry, you've got to work longer Half of British workers don't have a pension Pensions chief attacks Brown's £5bn/year raid PENSIONS: THE GREAT DIVIDE - THE GROWING GAP Why Pension Credit 'can't be sustained' Admission of a pensions crisis ignored for far too long Pensioners warned of £1.7bn fuel cutback if Labour win Tories put £1.7bn in pension pot
Howard sounds alarm over compulsory pensions plan Michael Howard in £1,000 pledge to the elderlyA better life for Britain’s pensioners- by Michael HowardPensions nightmare enough to turn your hair whiteFilling pensions black hole 'may put 4p on income tax'Pensions tax break for civil servantsPensions: We'll make you save - Bombshell as Labour tries to solve the crisis IT created - December 14, 2004Pension schemes crisis 'could mean £22bn stealth tax'"Let them eat tax credits: Mr Brown's policy is to let the old get poorer," writes Simon Jenkins in THE TIMES - October 13, 2004Key findings - Adair Turner Pensions Report - Mail, October 13, 2004"Labour and a Pensions Black Hole - Brown and Blair have wilfully dug themselves into a pensions pit. Now YOU will have to dig them out ....", writes Alex Brummer, Mail City Editor - October 13, 2004Don't grow old in Blair's Britain - Comment - Mail , October 13, 2004 The Conservative Party will save your PensionPensions - the price of neglectComment - Daily Mail, September 13, 2004 Has ever a Government so carelessly or needlessly squandered a national asset? In 1997, this country had the best funded system of private pensions in Europe. Today that system is in tatters, with millions who thought they had saved enough to pay for their retirement now facing penury. And what do you think the Trade Unions are doing about this problem? Read this letter about the Union of Silence. Meanwhile, the number of companies offering a scheme linked to final salaries has plunged. The crisis is so bad that New Labour is considering compelling workers and their bosses to save into pensions. The tragedy is that the present difficulties are unnecessary.Fund managers, who should have allowed for the fact that their obligations will increase as people live longer and that share values can fall as well as rise, are partly responsible. But the real blame lies with a Government which helped open the chasm in company schemes with its £5billion a year annual tax raid. Had that money instead been invested by pension funds, experts say there would now be an additional £100billion in assets. And, don't forget that seven years ago the then Pension Minister Frank Field warned of the problems - but rather than address them, Tony Blair sacked him. It may be that compulsion is the only way to ensure people have enough to look after themselves in old age. But doesn't it speak volumes about new Labour that yet again they are considering another stealth tax on hard-pressed, overtaxed companies and working people to foot the bill for their policy blunders. Do you want your own State Pension to be means tested?Pension Credits, introduced by Gordon Brown, are the degrading 'means-tested' benefits, which require claimants to reveal details of their life and property in cumbersome forms, wrapped in bureacratic red tape. It is the equivalent to begging from the State. And if it does not affect you now, it will get you one day unless something is done about it. But what? For a start, read this to see how we have got ourselves into this mess. When you've done that, download this document and spend an hour reading it using Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you have any difficulties downloading please contact the webmaster.Now ask all the candidates wanting your vote in your constituency the following questions:
The Conservative Party will save your pension by David Willetts, from a speech by shadow Work and Pensions secretary to the Tory conference in Bournemouth - October 2002 Do you know how many pension schemes have wound up since Labour came to office? A shocking 10,300. And of course you know how much Labour have taken from our pension funds with the worst stealth tax of the lot: £5billion a year. And as our pension funds lose value, what do Labour do? They drive people on to means-tested benefits instead. Just about everyone agrees that we need to reverse the spread of means-tested benefits and improve incentives to save by increasing the value of the basic state pension. It's not just us. It's business and trade unions. It is the pension funds and pensioners themselves. There is a progressive consensus that Conservatives have helped to shape. But Gordon Brown is not part of it. Instead he penalises our savings and means-tests our benefits. That's not just an innocent mistake. He really wants to determine everyone's income down to the last pound. It's what old Socialism and new Labour have in common. And it doesn't go with the grain of human nature. Conservatives understand, as we always have done, the human need for dignity and security. The moment a Conservative government is in office we will send out a clear instruction that the pension should be uprated by earnings, not prices. We can take one million pensioners off the means test in our first parliament. We are not going to abolish the Pension Credit, but it will gradually be replaced by the higher state pension. We save money on means-tested benefits that pensionsers don't like in order to put more money into the basic state pension, which they do. And we will get more money into pensions by abolishing the New Deal, which hasn't worked. Longer, healthier lives are great news. When we're told we must look at them as a threat, how badly are we going wrong?
The Tories have admitted that Margaret Thatcher made a mistake when she broke the link between earnings and the basic state pension 25 years ago, although it was considered to be prudent at the time, with stock market investment for private pensions being a financially healthier option. The plan to restore the link in a move would leave a retired couple with £11 a week extra in the first year. The pensions crisis is considered to be as big a threat to our way of life as terrorism or global warming. Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail writes about the Pensions nightmare that's enough to turn your hair white. Why Pension Credit 'can't be sustained'
Current and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running for election could share a platform at public forums in every constituency. They would be presented with the results of polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that constituency. The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters. Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged and the results published on this web site. Here is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote. This example deals with the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty. Your letters would end: "If you do not answer this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election. Blair's defiance of the will of the majority of we, the people of the UK, over the invasion of Iraq must be exposed by voters as a matter or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this be done. The most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour MPs: Here's one way to get Tony Blair to resign:
Simple, non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download a printable copy of the above letter here. Or why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above). Download a printable example of the questionnaire. It is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in their own constituency, even if this means going against their personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency, they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view of those who elect them. It will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy. We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy. Most important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be the result. Contact your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005. You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected by your representative in that assembly.
If you have suggestions for additional subjects, or material to include in the pages linked to the subjects listed, please contact the webmaster. |
