|
In British politics there are not many words capable of killing arational argument stone dead, almost regardless of its merits. But"granny" is usually one of them. Just ask George Osborne, whosebudget centrepiece was an unintelligible bit of tinkering with retirement tax thresholds until some bright spark coined the phrase "granny tax" . Within hours it was a full-blown PR disaster, any hope of arguingthat an ageing nation might need to rebalance its tax base sweptaway in an emotional tsunami. The chancellor might as well havebeen caught personally mugging an old lady. So what to make of thegranny-baiting manoeuvres of his cabinet colleague, Iain DuncanSmith? The welfare secretary has been privately arguing in cabinet thatthe universal winter heating allowance (an annual 200 currentlysent to all households containing someone over 60, rich or poor,rising to 300 for the over-80s) is now an unaffordable luxury.This week his case for restricting it to the poorest half of theretired population spilled into the open: yet far from beingaccused of heartless granny-bashing, Duncan Smith was cheered on by the Sun, which launched its own campaign in support of him . When the Fleet Street champion of both grannies andwealth-creators adopts the slogan "ditch handouts to the rich",something odd is afoot. It helps that Duncan Smith is arguably quite right. As thebroadcaster and older people's tsar Joan Bakewell points out, it seems absurd that she and her millionaire rock star neighbourget taxpayer subsidy for heating their prime Primrose Hill real estate. The fact thatso many pensioners, unlike Bakewell, need every penny of help theycan get only makes it seem stranger that 100,000 households onincomes of over 100,000 a year should still be merrily bankingtheir "winter warmer" even as the welfare state is cut to the bone.It is hardly rapaciously rightwing to suggest this money could bebetter spent on those in real fuel poverty. After all, senior politicians from all parties have been privatelyquestioning for at least three years whether a whole raft ofuniversal pensioner freebies the heating allowance, free TVlicences and bus passes could really survive an age ofausterity. What they didn't dare do was say so in public, ahead ofan election where a startling four in 10 voters were expected to beover the age of 55. It's not hard to understand why he did it, but in hindsight it wasa fatal mistake for David Cameron to let himself be cornered into apre-election pledge never to mess with these universal perks. Byall accounts, he remains determined not to renege on what he seesas a personal promise. The last thing any Tory leader needs,especially one sliding in the polls, is such a totemic breach offaith with the one demographic still most likely to support him.But the fresh round of spending cuts on which his coalition has nowembarked means this argument can't be ducked forever. The idea that the recession has pitted young against old with ageneration pushed off the career and property ladder turningresentfully on the baby boomers is sometimes overdone. A thirdof pensioners, one recent survey suggested, are actually borrowingmoney from their children rather than the other way round. But anew wave of austerity risks flushing intergenerational tensions outinto the open by forcing ministers to choose between the demands ofangry youth and needy old age. And nowhere is that choice morestark than within the welfare budget. Duncan Smith has been asked to find another 10bn in savings ashis contribution to getting the Treasury's battereddeficit-reduction plan back on track: this after an already savagepruning, which saw families uprooted from their homes (in the nameof capping housing benefit) and the profoundly sick declaredsuddenly "fit for work". His resistance looks uncannily like arecognition that, for all the rhetoric about welfare scroungers,there's precious little fat left to trim. A crude choice now loomsbetween the virtually untouched budget for pensioners, orredoubling the punishment for those of working age. Neither choiceis politically painless any more and for the Sun to come down onthe side of youth is a critical straw in the wind. Yet for a government that once bragged about its readiness to takethe tough decisions, there is little sign of enthusiasm for abattle with pensioners. It is a striking reflection on how farCameron's authority has faded that a senior cabinet minister andthe Sun backed by Nick Clegg should be prepared to makecommon cause on such a sensitive issue for him. But it's preciselythis weakness that may encourage the PM to dig in his heels. A strong leader can get away with going back on his wordoccasionally, when changing times justify changing minds: one whohas already U-turned once too often, however, will eventually findthis bank of goodwill exhausted. This coalition may be running outof road just as it most needs it. Of course there are legitimate worries about means-testing, whichmay make it harder for the genuinely needy to claim, as well aspushing up administration costs. But we're not dealing here withsome precious relic of the Beveridge settlement: it's a relativelyrecent budget wheeze of Gordon Brown's, still less than 15 yearsold. And even if Cameron's promise rules out a change before the2015 election, there is clearly a little wriggle room left giventhat the spending review effectively extends to 2017 particularly if the change were made as part of a broader, balancedpackage. It should not be impossible to draw up a new covenant between youngand old, based on a promise to ease older people's genuine fearsover long-term care not just capping the cost to individuals,but rooting out shoddy and degrading treatment in care homes andprotecting the basic state pension. But a confident governmentcould insist in return that wealthy retirees pay more tax and forkout for their own bus passes, in solidarity with theirgrandchildren. To coin a phrase, it's time the generations were allin this together. Twitter: @gabyhinsliff. I am an expert from xzqwsj.cn, while we provides the quality product, such as China LED Supplier , China LED Supplier, China Indoor Led Screen&&Indoor Led Screen Supplier,and more.
Related Articles -
China LED Supplier, China LED Supplier,
|
