Brown ‘sabotaged’ pensions report
Gordon Brown last night insisted any pension reform had to be “sustainable, fair and affordable”.
The chancellor’s comments to the Institute of Directors came as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats accused him of sabotaging a forthcoming report on Britain’s pensions future.
Lord Turner is due to publish his government-commissioned report on Wednesday, when he is expected to call for a more generous basic state pension, to be linked to earnings.
However, reports suggest that Mr Brown has major reservations about calculating pensions in this way, believing it to be too expensive. He reportedly warned Lord Turner last week that that the link between earnings and pensions credit may be scrapped in 2008.
In a pre-planned speech to business leaders last night, the chancellor insisted that in tackling all long-term pressures, from pensions to public services, “we will only spend what we can afford, maintain our fiscal disciplines, consistently meting our fiscal rules”.
He said the Turner commission would usher in “an important debate” about the future of pensions, saying the government hoped to build a “long-term consensus” on what changes needed to be done.
“The issue is not reform versus the status quo; there must be continuing reform. The issue is how we achieve the right reforms, reforms which are sustainable fair and affordable,” he said.
However, opposition parties have rounded on the chancellor for “sabotaging” the Turner report before it has even been published.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne asked: “Why has the government promised a serious grown-up debate on the future of pension provision only for the chancellor to throw his toys out of the pram in this way?”
“It is extraordinarily arrogant of Gordon Brown to try to shut down the much needed public debate on a crisis of his own making before it’s begun.”
Lib Dem pensions spokesman David Laws said: “Gordon is trying to pretend that Adair Turner somehow doesn’t understand the economics of pensions policy and what the government is going to be spending over the next 50 years.”
He added: “Unfortunately, Gordon Brown seems to be the only person in the country who is not part of the new consensus on pensions.”
Questioned on the issue yesterday, the prime minister insisted that there would be a “very full debate and consultation” on the Turner recommendations, “because we all want to see the best possible pension provision for the future”.
He added: “The very reason we have asked for this report to be done is because we know the present situation has to change and that is precisely why we asked him to carry out the report and we will do it.
“Contrary to anything you may have seen in speculation earlier, I can assure that we all want to take his report and to consider it very carefully and to use that then as the basis for future discussions to get the right pension provision for the country.”
