Focus pensions on the poorest

BRITAIN’S state pension is said to be the stingiest in the developed world. Hmmm… I have heard that before. To be precise I heard it when I was pensions minister 26 years ago.

Upon looking into the matter I found a very different picture because, although the actual cash payment compares badly with some other countries, our pensioners get more benefits.

At that time for example only Spain and the UK gave automatic free prescriptions to pensioners. In other countries pensioners paid and as the elderly are major consumers of medicine that was quite a drain on income. I suspect if a detailed comparison were once again made across all benefits for pensioners in all EU countries, the same picture would emerge.

Nevertheless it is undeniable that following the Gordon Brown raid on occupational pension funds and the rise of the gig economy, the state pension is becoming central to the retirement provision of too many. For some it is mere pin money on top of a final salary scheme but for others it is all or nearly all they have.

We need to concentrate resources on those people instead of frittering money away on winter fuel payments and Christmas bonuses for those who are sending their grandchildren to Eton. HER Majesty has launched an initiative to reduce the amount of plastic used in her various homes and on her estates. This is one example we should all follow so I adopt a New Year’s Resolution: I will try not to get any new plastic bags in supermarkets and will use the ones I have until they develop holes and where I have a choice I will buy glass bottles of mineral water rather than plastic. I do not guarantee 100 per cent success but no harm in trying, even if it saves only one small sea creature.