16.11.2000 BROWN BUCKLES ON PENSIONS AT LAST Responding to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown’s pre-Budget statement last week, Edward Davey MP, the Lib Dem Shadow Treasury Spokesperson said: "We have still had no apology for the mean 75p increase for pensioners last April - though perhaps last week’s announcement amounts to one? In the face of furious protests from pensioners, and a sustained campaign by Liberal Democrats, the Iron Chancellor has buckled and agreed substantial real rises in pensions. "The Chancellor has still left pensions inadequate, as is proved by the fact that millions of elderly people who have paid national insurance all their working lives still have to rely on means tested benefits to make ends meet. "Pensioners need long term investment in better pensions, not just a pre-General Election boom after four years of Labour bust and 18 years of Conservative cuts. Liberal Democrats guarantee to go further, with big rises to take tens of thousands of pensioners out of the misery of means tests. "On fuel, Liberal Democrats voted against every above inflation fuel tax rise under both the other parties, because nothing was being given back to the travelling public. The Chancellor has now adopted Liberal Democrat policy almost lock, stock and barrel to help motorists, hauliers and the environment. At last there is some good news for the travelling public - but as the public knows, transport under Labour remains in chaos. "Some business measures are welcome. But once again the Chancellor’s tax meddling means more bureaucracy and complication for business. On the big issue facing most manufacturers and farmers, the overvaluation of the pound, once again the Chancellor has had nothing to say and nothing to offer. "After all the hype, on his own figures, the Chancellor is still spending less of the national cake on schools and hospitals than the Tories did, because of his first three years of Conservative budget cuts. Bust for pensioners, schools and hospitals followed by election boom is no way to run the country - it is time for the honest approach of long term steady investment, for which the Liberal Democrats alone campaign." |
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