In December I will be 77 years old. The end comes closer. I have age-related ailments – small stuff triggers unreasonable reactions and I often feel like a lost and wandering soul in the speedy, high-tech modern world. Why won’t they take cash at the coffee shop? Why, oh, why did the neighbourhood minicab company shut down? And I am more grouchy than I once was, as are millions of fellow pensioners.
We should remember the wise advice: “Do not complain about growing old. It is a privilege denied to many.” And we must try to become less trenchant and more socially considerate.
Andy Burnham made a compelling speech about changing priorities, healing divisions, creating a cohesive and more equal country. He channelled the founding fathers of the welfare state. He announced radical measures. One of those was pensions reform. From April 2030 (if Labour win the next election), the state pension would continue to rise every year by inflation or by the 2.5 per cent figure. In other words not a triple lock. The money saved would go into a national care service. Most of us will need its help until the grim reaper shows up.
Many fellow pensioners have responded with rage and woe – pitiful and predictable responses. We saw similar reactions when the Labour government announced restrictions on inheritance tax relief for farms and businesses. Farmers protested most vociferously and the government partly backed down last December, raising the proposed allowance for full relief from £1m to £2.5m per person.
Us oldies have the power; the grey vote can determine the result of elections. And I’m sorry if this offends, but we are misusing that power.
Successive governments, most Tory-led, have left millions of citizens and residents in dire straits. Middle-class and upper middle-class oldies are among the most fortunate people in today’s Britain. And also the least generous or imaginative.
I was on the Kait Borsay show on Times Radio on Monday night. The other panellist was Michael Binyon, the veteran Times foreign correspondent. He is centre right, I am left wing. Yet we both agreed that ending the triple lock was long overdue and that we, being homeowners, should be prepared to sell up to pay for our care, whilst those without the resources needed fully funded state care. Our children’s inheritance was not consequential. Having a sustainable system was.
Why do most folk in our generation seem not get this? Those I speak to talk emotionally about wanting to leave their homes and savings to their grandkids, for their future. Yet they remain indifferent as to how other young people will fare in that future. Or the many who are struggling today, because of a lack of opportunities, debts and profound pessimism. I find this lack of empathy and vision hard to understand or forgive. You get the same boneheadedness when it comes to climate change. They can’t imagine it. Many think net zero is stupid, dangerous wokeism.
This inward looking mentality and refusal to take the long view is bad for them, bad for all pensioners, bad for the country.
Tragically, many of them are now drawn to right-wing sirens who hate the welfare state and progressive values.
Burnham stated clearly that poorer pensioners will get the state help they need: “The state pension will continue to rise every year at least by prices or 2.5 per cent. And it will hold its value relative to earnings over time so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation.” That, I reckon, will only inflame middle-class pensioners whose idea of welfare is skewed in their favour. They worked hard, so must get all the benefits. Pensioners in need or without assets are feckless and undeserving. The patriotism of the post-war generation was expansive and inclusive. My generation is meaner and tighter.
The terrible twins, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, and their friends in the media are mauling Burnham. Nige accuses Labour of “considering launching an offensive against our elderly”. Old brain? Short-term memory loss? Just days ago, the Centre for a Better Britain, a think-tank close to Reform UK, recommended the abolition of the state pension and £75bn worth of sweeping tax cuts for the rich. A substantial number of disgruntled oldies will still hand him their votes. Because they think he cares about them.
In January 1961, in his inaugural address, President John F Kennedy memorably said: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Burnham’s pension plans will, if supported, transform Britain. For the sake of our country, conscientious OAPs should resist right-wing disrupters, overcome their own misgivings and back our Prime Minister.
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