Tomorrow's pensioners
New Tory proposals would mean no state pension for most of today's infants when they retire. This sounds scary, but it makes good sense
REFORMING the welfare state is one of those nettles that politicians on all sides agree privately will have to be grasped--as long as someone else does the grasping. So it came as a bolt from the blue on March 5th when John Major announced radical proposals which, over a couple of generations, would abolish the state pension for most people. The Labour Party was so shocked by this dramatic turn of events that for several hours it had nothing to say beyond some reflex muttering about “chilling prospects”.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Tomorrow's pensioners”
From the March 8th 1997 edition
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