Proposals will be ‘modest'
UK - Departmental conflicts between the DWP, the Treasury and Number 10 will produce only "modest" pension reforms, believes Conservative work and pensions spokesman David Willetts.
In an exclusive interview with IPN’s sister publication Professional Pensions Willetts predicted that conflicting interests between the three departments would lead to a “workman-like” approach to Pickering.
Willetts said: “There have been tensions and it is a three cornered argument between the Treasury, the DWP and Number 10.
“What seems to have happened is that everybody has successfully objected to other peoples proposals and that is why I fear the green paper may be rather modest in scale.”
The opposition spokesman remained hopeful that there would be useful simplifications in the tax regime, but thought that this would not be enough to solve the pensions crisis.
He stressed: “What we need is something bigger and bolder than that.
“We need something that grasps the scale of the crisis in funded pensions, because millions of people are facing a retirement with much lower incomes than they previously expected.”
*The full interview transcript with David Willetts will be published next week.
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