General Chat

David Cameron has said that the state pension will continue to go up by at least 2.5% a year if the Conservatives win the 2015 general election.

When I listened to him say this, my immediate thoughts were - what you are saying is that if you are to win the election in 2015 you need the "grey vote" ;-)

Think it's called double speak :-D

My immediate thought was the same as yours OFITG.

Same here!!

Has the pension gone up since he's been in power?

edit: Sorry, since the coalition has been in power.
I've got so used to HIM dictating things I forgot about the others.

For 2012/2013 it increased by September 2011 Consumer Prices Index of 5.2% - an increase of £5.30 a week, not sure about 2010/2011 and 2013/2014 except that in those years it did not rise by very much compared to the rises in food and energy bills :-( and in his 2012 budget the chancellor announced that age-related personal allowances will be scrapped :-(

Its called "Promises Promises" like the Announcements in Parliament.It,ll never happen,All in Due Course etc etc. :-( and they do tend to suffer from amnesia constantly (AQfter Elections. :-|

And I would add, all parties are the same.

AnninGlos - you are right in saying they are all the same, in my book political parties of all persuasions have "Double Speak" as their first langauge ;-)

Makes it difficult when you get to election time being that you can't trust any of them.

I think he means for those who will retrie after the election no the one who have now the are just looking after them selfs as per norm we will still be at the bottom of the pile.

No doubt if it comes in, benefits will be cut - thereby making some worse off. :-P

It's all very well having 'X' amount if you own your own home, but those of us who rent can be cast aside for, apparently not being 'thrifty' enough to buy our own home. S*d the fact that many of us were abandoned mothers of one type or another and had to bring children up on our own. It's never the child's father's fault. Sometimes I think the Daily Fail and government believe children are some sort of sinful immaculate conception - solely the 'fault' of the mother. :-P :-P :-P :-P

So, they cut benefits and 'state' that 'Pensioners have 'X' amount of spending money, whilst we who rent will have half that amount, or less.

What the PM is saying about future pension provision is not worth the trouble of listening to.

All we need do is to observe current state pensioners - they too were promised 'jam tomorrow' by previous governments. The 'jam' is being spread very thinly.

This seems to be an attempt to lift pensioners out of having to apply for benefits to survive. In which case it makes sense for all major parties to sign in to this triple lock. Savings will have to be made in the overall welfare budget if pensions remain under DWP, but some of those savings will be made through less expensive bureaucracy dealing with pensioners having to wade through the various forms to claim bits and pieces.

The idea that it will sway most of us old *****s (or folks) to vote another way to our hearts and our tradition is fanciful. But suspect many floaters may change their vote to Tory or Lib Dem (and at moment the silent Labour Party are 8 points in the lead) if they really do experience that feeling that UK Ltd is getting somewhere in a few months time when we vote in the next Government of UK (+ or - Scotland).

The prime minister pledged to keep the "triple lock" system, which ensures the state pension goes up by whichever is higher - inflation, wages or 2.5%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25617844

No, it isn't linked to the RPI/CPI, but then wages probably don't reflect them either.
Yes, it is probably an electioneering statement. As they are the Party in Power, they have a better idea of the financial situation than the Opposition who make promises, then realise that they aren't achievable when they get the facts and figures.

Yesterday when the Prime Minster David Cameron announced he was going to protect the state pension, he told us what he was giving us with one hand but not the bad news about what he is going to take away with the other hand, maybe he wanted to spread some jam before scraping it off again as it seems he has left it to his Chancellor George Osborne to give us the bad news.

Today George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is expected to say, that in 2014 and also after the election in 2015, there will be more spending cuts. No doubt he is hoping that this will help him achieve his ideological dream of being one of the few chancellors to, not just produce a balanced budget - but a budget surplus. It is my honest opinion that this is the most important thing on his agenda, despite any damage this may cause along the way.

What concerns me about this governments economic policies is, that like many of their other policies - such as those on the Welfare State and the NHS, are based on long held ideological beliefs, and that it does not matter who or what are damaged by these policies, they are determined at all costs to create their own idea of Utopia.

In addition I have concerns that the current fiscal and monetary policies are creating an economy fuelled by, low wages, debt, and high property prices, these are not good foundations on which to build a strong and sound economy. The only beneficiaries from that sort of economy will be the rich, financial institutions, and big business.

It also concerns me that many of the things that are currently fueling our economy are those very things which got us into the financial crisis in the first place :-(

Thank goodness I am in the sunset of my life, as alas, I am sure that at some point in the next 5 to 10 years, it will all end in tears, with the average Joe Public bearing the cost of yet another flawed ideological dream :-(

I do agree with OFITG on one thing. We are all martyred to ideological dreams. And all through his life and mine we have swayed from one ideological "dream" to another.

Each successive government rips up the schemes of the previous one, and then puts something similar in place with new packaging and glitz.

At least Osborne has stated that his ideological dream is to achieve a low tax economy. And businessmen seem to have more confidence and are taking on people in our VERY high waged economy - if it was low waged, would we be so worried about economic immigration from other EEC countries?

Most of us will do well in next decade (because Labour will not be able to use smoke and mirrors to disguise the ridiculous profligacy of Brown and Balls. The grey vote will do ok, but will not increase their disposable income much (and why should they?). Those who need a safety net will rely more and more on charities and voluntary help.