The pension Policy Institute has finally shown its hand by calling upon the Government to raise the State pension age to 70. I sincerely hope this call will be rejected but would not stake my future pension on it.
The Argus (September 20) reported that a document called Raising State Pension Age: Are We Ready? appeared to recycle the same hoary old canard about increasing longevity leading to a "pension crisis". The truth is that the National Insurance fund is actually billions in surplus and has more than enough to pay the state pension at the age of 60 to both men and women and to restore the link with earnings.
So why do we still have to fight the same old battle? It has been open season on pension rights in general ever since the last weak and cowardly Tory government pushed through a measure to increase women's pensionable age to 65. A determined opposition which regarded social justice as its priority could and should have defeated this measure, given the Parliamentary arithmetic at the time. Sadly, a New Labour government regards pension rights as a low priority and a soft target to attack, just as much as the Tories did.
It is also just as keen to aid and abet the US in its squalid international policy, using our money to kill innocent civilians in our name and attempt to deflect attention from failed policies at home.
-P D Jackson, Byron Street, Hove
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