Message to Gordon from the wrinklies

EdInvestor

What exactly should he do to recover his popularity as far as we wrinklies are concerned?

One sometimes gets the impression that though he's in the wrinkly class himself, as a late marryer with very young children, his focus is on much younger voters.Quite a few of his acolytes are also pretty young.

Perhaps he's not hearing "grey" views?That would be a big problem as we make up the majority of voters.

Let's aim for constructive suggestions only on this thread - no repetiive rants, please. :rolleyes:

What's on the wrinkly political wish list?

HappyMedium_2

Make the state pension free from tax and ensure it is not taken off as our tax allowance making us pay tax on everything we earn, we have already paid tax when we were working.

[Deleted User]

take away the need to get an annuity at 75

margaretclare

He never had any popularity in the views of this particular 'wrinkly'.

His repeated reference to 'the nations and regions of the UK' which he explains as 'Scotland and Wales are nations and England exists only as 9 regions as approved by Europe' is enough to damn him for ever in my eyes.

Give me my England back again!

Further, I would like him to rescind the very damaging raid he made on pensions schemes in the very early days of his Chancellorship. And to make it once more worthwhile saving for one's old age without having means-testing applied at every level, so that people feel 'it's no good saving, might as well spend it all because my neighbour, who never saved, gets it all and I get nothing'. This does not make for a healthy outlook for any nation. Give us back our sturdy independence and our self-reliance!

seven-day-weekend

margaretclare wrote: »

He never had any popularity in the views of this particular 'wrinkly'.

!

Nor this one.

I don't like having a PM (or a Chancellor for that matter) who is only answerable to the Scottish electorate, when by far the greatest majority of those he allegedly represents are not Scottish.

What can he do to make himself more popular to me?

Resign.

Francophile

I detest the man. I think it's too late as he's raided the kitty and there's nothing left to fall back on. Just this morning my OH (who is normally very careful with money) said we might as well spend it before he takes it off us in tax. I'm quite happy to go along with that!!!

lilac_lady

What can Gordon do for the Wrinklies? Reinstate the link between earnings and pensions. Remember who was responsible for that terrible decision?

seven-day-weekend

lilac_lady wrote: »

What can Gordon do for the Wrinklies? Reinstate the link between earnings and pensions. Remember who was responsible for that terrible decision?

Isn't that going to happen sometime (2012?)?

seven-day-weekend

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Isn't that going to happen sometime (2012?)?

(edited to add : Looks like another promise reneged on:

http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/2008/04/vote-to-restore-pensions-link-to.html

EdInvestor

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Isn't that going to happen sometime (2012?)?

Hopefully 2012, but by 2015 at the latest.The recent vote has not changed this.

EdInvestor

margaretclare wrote: »

And to make it once more worthwhile saving for one's old age without having means-testing applied at every level, so that people feel 'it's no good saving, might as well spend it all because my neighbour, who never saved, gets it all and I get nothing'. This does not make for a healthy outlook for any nation. Give us back our sturdy independence and our self-reliance!

This is top of my wish- list too, as the "cliff edge" between low incomes and benefits impacts on so many aspects - from the level of taxation (national and local) to the fairness of care funding to the success or failure of the planned new national company pension scheme.

The uproar over the 10p band - which focusses on exactly this area - shows just how unjust the system is seen to be.Having got the poorest people up off the floor in its 10 years in power, Nu Labour now needs to concentrate on the next group up - which contains many swing voters, one suspects.

Actually raising personal tax allowances looks like an easy way of doing it.Brown raised the basic rate tax allowance to just over 6,000 to solve the 10p band problem.

Seems to me that the next step might be to move the tax allowance for everyone over 60 (the age at which pension credit kicks in currently) to the same level as pension credit, ie increase tax allowance to 6448. This means no-one earning pension income would be worse off than anyone on pension credit.

This arrangement would naturally phase itself out as the pension credit age rises in line with the female retirement age, so it would not be a "hostage to fortune" in the babyboomer context.

It can be quite easy to defuse major issues through the tax system - as was done over inheritance tax last year, for instance. Often just needs a bit of creative thinking.