Cleggonomics

Published on 28/09/2012 00:00

WHAT has gone wrong with the Liberal Democrat leadership?

Deputy Prime Minister and current party leader Nick Clegg unveils his latest silly wheeze to means-test pensioner benefits but the costs of the bureaucracy administering the system will be greater than the savings.

He proceeds to muddy the waters by observing that Lord Sugar does not need a bus pass with the clear implication that the multi-millionaire businessman is a typical pensioner.

The fact is that pensioners without gold-plated public-­sector pensions like himself have been the principal victims of his coalition’s policy of quantitative easing.

Income from private-sector pension annuities has collapsed from £15,000 from a pension pot of £100,000 to less than £6,000 and the interest from pensioner savings is a disgrace.

Mr Clegg’s unworkable and unfair proposals simply confirm the perception most people have 
of the Liberal Democrats as the silly party and his own reputation for shallowness and opportunism.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews