PRESS RELEASE
17 April 2007

Brown has robbed pensioners of their security

Today (17^th April) the Conservatives will be leading an Opposition Day Debate on the pension’s crisis. The Conservatives will be putting forward an amendment to the Pensions Bill to set up a “Lifeboat fund” to deliver a better package to those worst affected by occupational pension scheme failures.

Malcolm Moss MP says:

“The amendments the Conservatives are tabling will top up the pension income of thousands of vulnerable people, in North East Cambridgeshire and around the country, who have lost their pension savings and face an uncertain retirement.”

Long-term, the Lifeboat would be funded by collecting unclaimed assets within the pensions system. But it would receive Treasury loans in the meantime to allow it to start paying out immediately. The Fund will top-up people's benefits to the level provided by Pension Protection Fund, which provides help to people whose pension schemes failed after April 2005.

Gordon Brown’s infamous stealth tax raid on the pension fund has left thousands of Pensioners vulnerable in their retirement. Approximately 125 000 people have had their final salary schemes aborted and many more are retiring with little or no pension at all. The Chancellor’s £100 billion raid from the pension fund in the last decade has robbed pensioners of their security.

Malcolm Moss MP says:

"There is no quick fix to the damage that the Chancellor has caused to Britain's pension system, but this is a first step in the right direction which will help some of those worst affected in North East Cambridgeshire. Conservatives will continue to give the highest priority to sorting out the damage that Gordon Brown has inflicted on Britain's once 'gold standard' pensions system.

“We challenge Labour to back our proposals to launch a Lifeboat Fund to help the worst-hit pensioners by immediately topping up their income. These people need help now; they cannot afford to wait until 2009 or 2010 for a Conservative Government."