The Tories quadruple lock pension plan is unsustainable
The Tories quadruple lock pension plan is unsustainable
Appealing to the grey vote might save them from annihilation, but the party will need to face the intergenerational inequality question soon
The ‘triple lock plus’ policy announcement from the Conservatives led to me penning two articles yesterday, one for the i on how unsustainable this policy is, and one for Unherd on how it fits into the broader Tory strategy of courting only the elderly vote.
‘There is no magic money tree,’ we are repeatedly told by the Conservative Party in sermons about the virtues of fiscal responsibility and sound money. But the Tories seem to harvest a magic money tree every day, enthusiastically handing over its fruits to just about the only demographic left in its dwindling voter base: pensioners.
Last night, the Tories announced that the triple lock pension policy was going to be upgraded to the ‘triple lock plus’. This ‘quadruple lock’ would mean the tax-free allowance threshold remaining frozen for working-age people, while pensioners will be protected and see the threshold at which they start to pay income tax rise above earnings and inflation over time.
‘Without change, next year pensioners would start paying income tax on their state pension alone. That isn’t right,’ said chief secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott. Under the plans, the personal allowance for pensioners would rise by at least 2.5 per cent, or at the level of earnings or inflation, whichever is higher…
To read this full article on the unsustainablity of the triple lock, visit i News using the link here: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/triple-lock-plus-more-handouts-to-wealthy-pensioners-3078408
As a soggy Rishi Sunak was almost literally drowned outby the New Labour anthem “Things Can Only Get Better” on the steps of Downing Street last week, I began to wonder why the Conservative Party has never coalesced around an optimistic anthem of its own in quite the same way. If it did, what song would it be? Then it hit me: “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma” by the St Winifred’s School Choir would be the perfect choice.
It would be consistent with the party’s choices over the last 14 years in office, prioritising pensioners over working-age people at every turn — with the net effect of tax and benefit policy changes since 2010 putting pensioners £2,000 a year ahead of those below 66 years of age. Meanwhile, the postwar promise of a home of one’s own for those who work hard and do the right thing has been broken for Britain’s youth for over a decade.
New depths of the pork barrel were scraped last night when the Government announced plans to tighten the triple-lock pension thumbscrews even further, upratingthe tax-free allowance for pensioners by the highest of 2.5%, earnings or inflation. For workers, no such luck — another shift in the salt mines will help bring out the flavour of the pensioners’ pork…
To read this full article on the Tory grey vote strategy, visit Unherd using the link here: https://unherd.com/newsroom/rishi-sunaks-pension-tax-cut-is-another-insult-to-young-people/