Many of those affected "won't be around" by the next election, argues think tank
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has called for the Government to make cuts to pensioner benefits, including the Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes, immediately.
Alex Wild, research director of the conservative think tank, said that many of those hit by the cuts might “not be around” by the time of the next election.
He also said that others may forget which Government had made the cuts.
'Practical' cuts
[SPOTLIGHT]Mr Wild is quoted by the BBC as saying that cuts should be made “as soon as possible after an election for two reasons”.
“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 [who made the cuts] by then.”
Dr Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, also appeared on the conference panel, and insisted that any such cuts must be made permanently, in order to help the next generation – something which he suggested that older people would understand his position on.
“We have a broken opposition,” he said. “We have just won a general election and we need now to take the tough decisions we believe are right.”
Dr Fox said that in order to fund current pensioner benefits, the state is “borrowing from the next generation to spend today”. He likened this arrangement to a Ponzi scheme, saying that it is unsustainable and must be changed.
“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,” he said.
Do you receive pensioner benefits? How would you feel about them being cut – and how would you react when the next election comes around? Let us know in the Comments below.
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