ory Party grandee and former Brexit negotiator David (Lord) Frost has suggested that the state pension age in the UK be raised to 75 in a bid to reduce public spending.
The pension age has already risen twice in the last five years.
- “I do think that the honest truth is that the pension age is going to have to go up quite a long way to solve this problem [of reducing public expenditure],” Frost said during a discussion at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester on Monday. “That seems to me the best way of getting out of it in the medium term.”
Britain has had a Conservative government since 2010, and despite some initial cutbacks by the normally spendthrift party, the government’s outlay has ballooned in recent years.
- Its annual spending on services – which includes healthcare, welfare benefits, and pensions – soared to £784 billion ($953 billion) in 2022-23, from £713.1 billion ($866 billion) the previous year, according to government statistics.
- Meanwhile, the UK’s national debt has risen from 75% of the country’s GDP in 2010 to 100.5% earlier this year.
“The big blocks of spending are health, pension, and benefits,” Lord Frost stated on Monday. “If you don’t tackle those you’re not really tackling anything.”
- “People are much healthier than they used to be and I think [the pension age] does need to go up,” he said. Asked whether it should be raised to 70, he replied “75, it’s quite a lot higher.”
Between 1948 and 2010, Britons could expect to draw a state pension at 60 for women and 65 for men.
This was equalized to 65 for both sexes in 2018, and increased to 66 in 2020. A further increase to 67 is planned by 2028, and to 68 by 2046, although these dates are currently being reviewed and could be brought forward.
- At present, there are 28 people aged over 65 for every 100 people of working age in the UK. However, this is predicted to hit 36 per 100 by 2050.
Source: RT
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