RIGHT-WING self-appointed policy wonks the Taxpayers’ Alliance came under fire yesterday for saying the Tories should cut pensions because most pensioners who would suffer would be dead by 2020.
Alex Wild, the group’s research director, told a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, that those who didn’t die would probably succumb to dementia and forget about the cuts.
Wild, who previously worked for London Mayor Boris Johnson, said there were two good reasons to reduce the burden on taxpayers by cutting the amount of money spent on pensions: “The first of which will sound a little bit morbid – some of the people... won’t be around to vote against you in the next election. So that’s just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten by then.”
He continued: “If you did it now, chances are that in 2020 someone who has had their winter fuel cut might be thinking, ‘Oh I can’t remember, was it this government or was it the last one? I’m not quite sure.’
“So on a purely practical basis I would say do it immediately. That might be one of those things I regret saying in later life but that would be my practical advice to the government.”
The National Pensioners Convention said Wild’s remarks were “politically cynical and personally offensive” and called on him to apologise.
Dot Gibson, the group’s general secretary, said: “Mr Wild’s remarks are both politically cynical and personally offensive and there needs to be an apology.
“It represents some of the most awful ageist nonsense I’ve heard in a long time.
“He doesn’t consider the fact that the winter fuel allowance is essential because every year tens of thousands of older people die from the cold.
“Taking it away would just make this worse – but perhaps that’s what he wants. He also suggests that younger people would support making their grandparents worse off. That’s all part of this phoney generation war that they and others like to promote.
“Families care about each other, and grandparents often help out their grandchildren where they can. Contrary to what he suggested, Mr Wild can be sure pensioners won’t be forgetting this in a hurry.”
A spokesperson for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said Wild “made a joke to the room that the room laughed at, but now understands that beyond the four walls of the room it hasn’t gone down so well”.
At the same meeting former defence secretary Liam Fox, although in more diplomatic language, said pensions amounted to a “Ponzi scheme” borrowing from tomorrow’s income to pay for today’s costs.
He added: “We have got to start to get really honest with people because this is not a sustainable position,” he said.
“We can’t afford it now, we can’t afford it in the future, why don’t we try to get a longer-term plan put in place so that people can make the adjustments they will need to make for us to be able to get back into balance?”
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