Pensioners have had a terrible time. In the last five years, single pensioners have hardly seen a real increase in income at all.  But the bills for all pensioners have gone through the roof. Especially Council Tax which has lately become Gordon Brown's preferred stealth tax. It's a real worry for many pensioners how they will get by - especially as everyone is living longer these days.

Worse still, people aged 40-55 are unlikely to save as much as they need to. This is because the Labour Government has caused a loss of public trust in the UK pension saving system - thanks to:

• The £5 billion per year stealth tax raid on pension funds;
• The winding up of 60,000 occupational pension schemes since 1997;
• The closure of two-thirds of remaining final salary pension schemes to new members;
• The loss by 125,000 workers whose pension schemes have failed; and
• Pension Credit which punishes people who worked hard to save for their retirement.

Charlie Elphicke thinks it can't go on like this. It's really important people are encouraged to save for their retirement.  The population is ageing and there just won't be the younger people to keep things going when we retire if our generation fails to save enough. We need to treat today's pensioners with greater dignity and aim to provide a retirement with less money stress.

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