• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Chancellor Osborne backs away from radical pension reform

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor With less then a fortnight until the budget, the Chancellor is worried about a severe backlash from richer voters over his pension proposals. In response Osborne has had to ditch his package of pension reforms, including tax relief for high earners, due to concern that these changes would annoy Conservative […]

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2016-03-05 16:23
in News, Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor

With less then a fortnight until the budget, the Chancellor is worried about a severe backlash from richer voters over his pension proposals.

In response Osborne has had to ditch his package of pension reforms, including tax relief for high earners, due to concern that these changes would annoy Conservative voters.

The proposals included creating a “pensions Isa” that would have eliminated pension tax relief for all those in work.

An ally of the chancellor reportedly said: “There won’t be any changes to tax relief at all in the budget. George has always been clear he wouldn’t do anything to damage saving. He’s listened to what people have said and concluded that now isn’t the right time.”

Tory MPs had been increasingly concerned that Osborne’s scheme would have clobbered higher earners and with the EU referendum looming, they didn’t want any extra distractions.

Mark Garnier, a member of the Treasury select committee, said having “two big things going on at the same time doesn’t necessarily help the arguments of either one or the other”.

RelatedPosts

Full list of MPs who voted down a windfall tax on gas giants that could hand families £600

‘We can’t just put up nice people’: Jim Davidson blasts Thatcher statue protests

Tory MP arrested on suspicion of rape

Man spotted selling eggs outside Margaret Thatcher statue

Osborne’s reputation as a shrewd political tactician, which he rebuilt after the “omnishambles” budget of 2012, had already been dented by the tax credit U-turn. Bringing in this pension plan could have confirmed to some Conservative backbenchers that the Chancellor losing the confidence of their core voters.

Mick McAteer, director of the Financial Inclusion Centre, scrapping the reforms was an opportunity missed. He remarked: “UK households have around £4.8tn-worth of private pension wealth, the top 20% of those households own about £3.4tn of that wealth, so if you have 10 people in a room, two of those people have more than twice the pension wealth than the other eight put together.

“We have a clear inequality in our pensions system, and this is a really disappointing piece of news, because this was a great opportunity to actually make the pensions system work better for the self-employed, people on zero-hours contracts who are really facing a long-term pensions crisis. Fewer than one in five of the self-employed are currently contributing to a pension at the moment, that’s down from a figure of 60% back in the late 1990s.”

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Monty Python star Terry Jones dies aged 77

‘Your proposal is whack’: Council unwittingly rejects planning applications

A 1,300-year-old gold cross which was found buried with the body of an aristocratic Anglo-Saxon teenager is to go on display for the first time

UK cities fall like dominoes for Uber as York joins London and Sheffield in refusing to grant licence

Radical breakthrough in wireless power transmission set to revolutionise electric car industries

The Olive Tree: Film Review

Covid: ‘Very frightened and very sick’ Barracks housing migrants must be ‘evacuated immediately’

Things to consider before applying for Debt finance from a Bank

Rump Steak With Mushrooms And White Pepper Sauce

6 potential super-fights all boxing fans can hope for

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.