Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

Spin, not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might tell the truth. Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004

 

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Pension schemes crisis 'could mean £22bn stealth tax' by Graeme Wilson - Political Correspondent - Daily Mail, November 5, 2004 Labour was accused of creating a £22billion stealth tax after bosses were told they may be forced to make contributions to employees pension schemes. Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson said more companies need to pay money into staff pension schemes - or face legislation to make such contributions compulsory. His message was greeted with fury by business leaders, who said it would cost firms £22billion a year. Mr Johnson spoke amid mounting fears that millions of Britons will face poverty when they retire. Critics say the crisis has been fuelled by Gordon Brown's £5billion a year raid on pension funds. But in a speech to the Association of British Insurers, Mr Johnson tried to shift the focus off the Government and on to business. He said employer contributions were crucial in persuading staff to save into a company pension. "If employers want to avoid being compelled to contribute a set amount to a pension, then we need to move towards a world where employer pension contributions are the norm," he added. "Where there is no employer contribution, pension take-up stands at just 13%. But with a contribution of at least 5%, take-up rockets to 69%. " Most big firms make contributions to employees' occupational pension schemes. But there is a growing crisis among smaller companies which set up so-called stakeholder pension schemes - a flag-ship Labour policy designed to persuade more to save for their old age. However, nearly nine out of ten of these schemes receive no employee contribution . The CBI said company pension contributions had doubled from £18billion to £37billion a year since 1997. Anthony Thomas, head of CBI pensions policy, said: "Companies should contribute to pensions were they can afford to, but we have to face the fact that not all firms can. Compulsion could cost £22billion a year and for business that would be a straight tax on jobs."

Pensions crisis "is as big a threat" as terrorism

by Paul Eastham - Daily Mail July 6, 2004

The Tories vowed yesterday to reinstate the link between state pension and average earnings to tackle a looking crisis 'as serious as terrorism or global warming'.

Without immediate action to prop up the system, the economy and society could be torn apart for decades, they warned. The living standards of 11 million pensioners would collapse, companies would go bankrupt, taxes would soar and labour mobility would sieze up, unless the sytem received a financial boost, said work and pensions spokesman David Willets.

Attacking the handling of pensions by successive governments, he said the scale and implications of the fall-off in retirementsavings and increasing life expectancy was still not understood. He warned that people without adequate cover would increasingly resent public sector workers and staff in large corporations who enjoy relatively generous final-salary pension schemes.

He told the Right-wing think-tank Politeia that Margaret Thatcher had made a big mistake when she broke the link between earnings and the basic state pension 25 years ago. That has led to the rise of 'mass means testing' where Labour tries to target cash to 'deserving' elderly. In 20 years, three-quarters of pensioners could be on means-tested benefits, he said, discouraging saving.

The Tories plan to restore the link in a move that would leave a single pensioner £7 a week better off and a couple with £11 more in the first year. Since Mrs Thatcher severed the link, pensions have been tied to prices, which rise more slowly than earnings. The result has been that pensioner incomes have steadily been eroded compared with those of the working population.The Willetts shake-up - to be paid for by cuts to other parts of the welfare budget- would guarantee that pensioner incomes would rise in line with national prosperity.

It is a dramatic turnaround in the Tory position of the 1990's, when Michael Portillo predicted that the state pension would wither away to a negligible value. Mr Willetts said society was increasingly relying on company and private pensions to provide people with basic 'bread and butter' incomes in old age. The Government should subsidise pension companies so they can afford to carry on paying out even if life expectancy continues to soar.

He urged his audience not to underestimate the grim consequences of inaction. "I believe it is up there with terrorism or global warming as a threat to much of what we value," he said.