Pension cap is needed (Andrew Shearer)

“Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord.” (James 5:4.)Nothing has changed much from the time the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ wrote these God-inspired words. Our government is about to review pensions, contributions and end of working life payments. It seems the Hutton Report has failed to do justice to all in his report. The review has come about not just because of claims by the government of diminishing pension funds, but also as a result of the banking crisis.

As usual it is the hard-working contributor who will be hit hardest with a longer working life, and reduced incomes upon their retirement. While on the other hand, elite bankers, local authority and civil service managers are able to take retirement years early, with all their benefits being accrued from the pension funds of the majority contributors, and supported by the taxpayer.

It is little wonder there is a pension shortfall when pension pots have been and still are being plundered and robbed by early retirees on their annual million-pound plus pension bonuses. If Hutton, present and past governments and local authorities were truly concerned about the diminishing returns of the pension funds, they would address this clearly unfair bias towards those at the top of the management structures and their antipathy towards the rest of us.

A cap needs to be put on how much a person needs to live on in retirement, to ensure that both the taxpayer and the average pension scheme contributor is looked after.

No-one needs an annual pension of a million pounds plus. Equally all need a sustainable pension that is equitable and fair to all its contributors.

Use your second vote at this election for justice, and the Lordship of Christ over politics. We may not be able to trust politicians, but we can trust Christ, the Saviour of sinners.

Andrew Shearer
Scottish Christian Party
Viewforth,
Hoswick,
Sandwick.