THE recent statement by Tony Blair on the subject of a fairer distribution of wealth in the UK gives me an excuse to return to the subject of the state pension and New Labour's stated attitude to it.
1."I want the next Labour government to achieve the end of the means test for our elderly people" - Gordon Brown, 1993.
"Around 5.4 million pensioners will be drawn into the means-tested Pension Credit by 2003" - Pension Credit consultation document 2000.
2."Labour will defend the basic state pension, without means-testing, and ensure that it remains the foundation of our pension policy" - New Labour's pre-election leaflet 1997.
"The full basic state pension for a single pensioner is now £75.50 a week compared to £98.15 a week for the means-tested Minimum Income Guarantee - Budget Statement April 2002.
3."The results of breaking that link between pensions and earnings has been to take a cumulative total of £18bn from pensioners over the last nine years" - Gordon Brown 1990.
"Restoring the earnings link would not need any increase in National Insurance contributions until the second half of the next decade" - Government Actuary Report 2000.
"It would be unaffordable to restore the earnings link to the basic state pension" - Paul Boateng, MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury - June 2002.
Need I say more? Perhaps only to remark, and with regard to last weeks' Labour Party Conference, that one should never underestimate the intelligence of the British electorate.
A J C EVANS,
Delegate,
West Midlands Pensions Convention,
Callow End, Worcester.
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