Pension age rise linked to Brown

Madam, – Back in 2014, during the absurdly negative campaign of lies and scaremongering, Gordon Brown made a speech on pensions.

He gave one of his typical set-pieces and extolled the virtues of “pooling and sharing” resources.

He also questioned the “affordability” of the state pension under independence.

Now banker-friendly Boris Johnson is planning to raise the state pension to 75.

This just shows how worthless Brown’s promise was.

It was Brown whose stealth tax on pensions in 1997 is estimated to have cost private pensions some £100 billion and set the scene for the debasement of pensions.

Brown and Blair emulated and celebrated the financialisation of the UK economy under Thatcher.

Brown’s “light touch” regulation led the banks to collapse.

The process of financialisation of the economy started under Thatcher.

State assets were given away. This created massive windfalls for speculators and large financial institutions.

Meanwhile the council house privatisation led to a huge giveaway to investment bankers in the way of fees.

This house of cards collapsed under the 2008 crash.

It was Gordon Brown who led the global charge to bail out the banks.

This led to a decade of austerity under the Tories which the Office for Budget Responsibility says will last for 50 years.

The rise in the state pension age to 75 is only the latest stage of that crash.

Alan Hinnrichs. 2 Gillespie Terrace, Dundee.